
Book _-. /^ ^ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSry 



IDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 



Home ant) Scbool Series 

Edited by PAUL MONROE 



Curtis: Education through Play. 
Curtis: The Practical Conduct of Play. 
Curtis : The Play Movement and its Significance. 
Cloyd: Modern Education in Europe and the 

Orient. 
Howerth: The Art of Education. 
Kilpatrick: Froebel's Kindergarten Principles 

Critically Examined. 
Miller: Education for the Needs of Life. 



EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS 
OF LIFE 

A TEXTBOOK IN THE 
PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 



FOR USE IN ELEMENTARY CLASSES IN NORMAL SCHOOLS 
AND COLLEGES AND IN INSTITUTES AND READING CIRCLES 



BY 
IRVING ELGAR MILLER, Ph.D. 

AUTHOR OF THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THINKING j ' 



Co 

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
1917 

AU rights reserved 



.Ml 



Copyright, 1917, 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up and clectrotyped. Published November, 1917. 



-8 1917 



©C!.A476985 



I'-v-D 



i . 



PREFACE 

The preparation of this book is the direct outgrowth 
of the generous appreciation given to the writer's " Psy- 
chology of Thinking." The dominant point of view of 
that book is here appHed more widely to the interpre- 
tation of education. Although treating of principles 
and fundamental ideas rather than of details, never- 
theless the attempt has been made to express the 
thought simply enough to make the book useful as a 
text in elementary courses in Normal Schools and 
Colleges and as the basis of discussion for groups of 
students who are working together in reading circles 
and teachers' institutes. 

Education is conceived as an integral phase of the 
life process. Everything that lives has needs to be 
met. In so far as any living being actually modifies 
its own behavior in the light of experience, learning 
occurs. Conscious, or intentional, education gives 
guidance and direction to the natural learning pro- 
cesses. It does not substitute something else for the 
principles, laws, and methods of nature; it works in 
harmony with them and facilitates nature in the at- 
tainment of her goal in the lives of individuals. The 
outcome is that the needs of life are met better, more 
fully, and at higher levels. Education, to be efficient, 
has to know what the needs of life are, under what 



vi ^ PREFACE 

conditions children normally undertake to meet them, 
by what processes they are met, what subject matter 
is suited to meet needs, and what sort of people are 
best fitted to assist children in meeting their needs. 
After giving the scientific background upon which this 
functional conception of education rests, the writer 
applies the idea to the interpretation of the nature and 
function within the educative process of the aim, the 
pupil, the curriculum, the method, and the teacher. 

In the matter of organization the book contains 
one new feature, a series of questions at the head of 
each chapter. They are not put there with the idea 
that they are to be asked by the teacher of the class. 
Their function is to focus the mind of the reader upon 
the outstanding problems of the chapter in advance 
of its study. It is hoped that readers and students 
of this text will take the time to give their minds the 
"set" which Professor Thorndike emphasizes as a 
condition favorable to learning, or the grasp of thought. 

The preparation of this text would have been im- 
possible without the sympathetic interest of Professor 
Paul Monroe. I am indebted also for criticism to 
my wife, Lily R. Miller ; to Mr. Sterling A. Leonard, 
Professor of English in the Lincoln School of Teachers 
College; and to Mr. Herman C. Henderson, Pro- 
fessor of Psychology and Education in the State Nor- 
mal School, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

IRVING E. MILLER. 

New York City, 
June 1, 1917. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Chapter 1. The Biological Point of View in Education . 1 

Chapter 2. The Meaning and Aim of Education ... 48 

Chapter 3. The Child . 81 

Chapter 4. The Curriculum 155 

Chapter 5. The Principles of Method 199 

Chapter 6. The Teacher 296 



vu 



EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS 
OF LIFE 

CHAPTER I 

THE BIOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW IN EDUCATION 

Why is it appropriate to conceive of education in bio- 
logical terms ? What are the outstanding characteristics of 
an organism that are most suggestive for educational 
thought? Will these characteristics apply to the social 
group as well as to the individual? What is the meaning 
of adjustment ? What are the significant factors in human 
adjustment? What conditions make education a neces- 
sity in its attainment? What are the implications of the 
biological point of view as to the relations between body 
and mind in education? as to the relations between intel- 
lect, feeling, and will? How does the idea of function 
grow out of the biological conception ? What are its various 
meanings and applications? Does the mathematical con- 
ception of function also have meaning for education ? ^ 

Education for the Needs of Life 

When the backbone of winter is broken, the lover 
of growing things begins to get the gardening fever. 
One of the first things to be planned is the row of sweet 

* See the statement in the preface for the significance and use of these questions. 

B 1 



2 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

peas. He wants to make sure of a profusion of large, 
showy blossoms. To attain this end he has to know 
the nature of sweet peas and to do all that he can to 
meet their needs. As early as possible in the spring, 
he digs a wide, deep trench in the ground. Into this 
he throws an abundance of fertilizer and stirs it in 
thoroughly. He sows the seed and covers it deeply. 
Why does he take this mode of procedure rather than 
some other.? He knows that sweet peas require a 
rich soil and the chance for the development of an 
extensive system of rootage. The seeds are planted 
early because it takes a long time for them to sprout 
and to get well rooted. If they are planted while the 
ground is still cool, the root system is likely to get well 
started before the stalks thrust themselves up through 
the soil ; hence they will grow vigorously when they 
do come up. Sweet peas need an abundance of mois- 
ture; hence the gardener plants them deep in the 
ground so that they will not be so likely to dry out 
during the heat of summer. For the same reason, he 
watches the vines carefully through the hot weather 
and waters them frequently. He knows that vigorous 
plants such as are necessary to the growth of large 
blossoms must have adequate room for their roots and 
the vines must receive an abundance of sunshine; so 
he thins out the young plants until they stand not less 
than an inch apart. Sweet peas need some sort of 



THE BIOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW 3 

support to which their tendrils can cHng and carry the 
vines up into the sunshine; so the gardener provides 
an upright wire screen upon which the vines may 
run. Now the gardener cannot create according to 
his will either the seeds, the vines, or the blossoms. He 
can only provide the conditions most suitable for 
their growth and give the care that will meet the needs 
of the growing vines as fully as possible at every stage 
of their life. The stockman, in like manner, is suc- 
cessful with animals in so far as he knows their nature 
and is able to assist them most effectively in meeting 
their needs. 

The human being is not an exception to other living 
things in the fundamental laws of life. From the 
biological point of view, we must think of him as a 
living whole, or organism. They who would see the 
child reach his highest perfection must know his nature 
and supply the conditions under which his needs can 
best be met. Education is not something apart from 
life; its nature and function can best be seen in the 
light of the living whole to the perfection of which it 
contributes. The fuller meaning and significance of 
this point of view will be brought out in the study of 
the outstanding characteristics of an organism and 
the process of adjustment of human beings to their 
environment. 



4 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

The Outstanding Characteristics of an Organism 

The organism has many characteristics which mark 
it off from a mere thing. For our purposes, it will be 
sufficient to emphasize four of these. 

An organism has needs. 

A stone, a piece of iron, a pan of water cannot be 
said to have any needs. They are just what they are. 
No problem confronts them of maintaining their 
status. Except from an outside point of view it doesn't 
matter at all whether they remain as they are, 
whether they are broken into bits, or whether they are 
entirely disintegrated. But it is of the essence of an 
organism to live, and this means that it must be con- 
tinually satisfying needs. The lower forms of plant 
life need light, air, water, and nutrition. As we as- 
cend the scale of life, particularly in the animal series, 
needs multiply. In man they are exceedingly varied 
and complex. To live a human life involves the 
satisfaction of all sorts of physical, mental, and social 
needs. 

An organism is capable of behavior. 

By behavior we mean any kind of activity in response 
to stimuli from without or to tendencies from within. 
A stone, a piece of iron, a pan of water cannot be said 
to respond to stimuli. They do not act, they move 



THE BIOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW 5 

when acted upon. What they do is the result of 
mechanical and physical forces. But a plant tends 
to bend toward the light, a frog to jump into the 
water, a man to respond in thousands of specific ways 
to the situations of life by which he is confronted. 
In speaking of human beings, we include imder the 
head of behavior not only motor processes but also those 
that are mental. I see an apple under the tree; I 
respond by focusing my eyes upon it, walking toward 
it, picking it up, and eating it. In this case behavior 
is dominantly motor, but not without some mental 
activities. My behavior might be simply an emo- 
tional response in the form of pleasure at the beautiful 
color and form of the fruit ; or it might be an intel- 
lectual response in the form of curiosity as to the species 
of apple and its characteristic qualities. In the case 
of human beings we might appropriately speak of 
tendencies to social and spiritual behavior also, — tend- 
encies to act in cooperation with others and with 
reference to the needs of the higher life. 

The organism is capable of adaptive behavior. 

By adaptive behavior we mean such action as meets 
the needs of the organism. The stone, the piece of 
iron, the pan of water have neither needs nor modes 
of action suited to meet them. But the house-plant, 
when it bends toward the window, meets its need of 



6 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

light by an adaptive mode of behavior. The frog in 
need of food can meet that need by snapping at flies. 
The man who is in need of shelter can meet this need by 
building a wigwam, a tent, or a house. Man is capa- 
ble of more numerous and more complex modes of 
adaptive behavior than any other living thing. These 
correspond to his more numerous and complex physical, 
mental, and social needs. 

In the adaptive behavior of an organism all parts, organs, 
and specialized structures are interdependent and 
interrelated. 

In the plant, root, stem, and leaf each has its fimction 
to perform in the life of the whole. No one of them 
exists for its own sake ; no one of them can live inde- 
pendently of the others. In the human body, we find 
specialized structures such as the heart, the lungs, the 
muscles, and the nervous system. Each has its own 
function to perform, but it is also dependent for its 
life upon the activity of the other organs. The mean- 
ing and significance of each is found in the part played 
in the life of the whole. Mind and mental processes 
are subject to the same principle of interpretation. 
Mental functions, like sense perception, memory, think- 
ing, feeling, and willing, are not ends in themselves but 
means whereby the needs of the entire organism are 
better met.^ 

1 Miller. "Psychology of Thinking," pp. 17-21. 



THE BIOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW 7 

The Social Group as an Organic Whole 

Society is sometimes spoken of as an organism. In 
the strict biological sense this is incorrect. At the same 
time, the analogy is so striking that it has great value. 
In the four respects that we have just discussed, the 
parallelism is complete. It is correspondingly ap- 
propriate to speak of any social group as an organic 
whole. This is true both of natural social groups such 
as the family and the tribe and also of artificial social 
groups such as the business or industrial corporation. 
The organization of people for cooperative ends means 
both the existence of needs that can be attained better 
through organization and also the emergence of new 
needs due to that organization. Among these are 
the needs of leadership, obedience, larger human sym- 
pathy, cooperative ideals. The family, the tribe, 
the church, the school, the bank, the manufacturing 
corporation, all develop new modes of behavior; and 
in so far as these cooperative modes of behavior ac- 
complish the legitimate ends of the social whole, meet- 
ing its needs, they may be called adaptive. It can 
also be said of any one of these social groups that the 
individuals composing it are mutually interrelated and 
interdependent. In any social organization, the in- 
dividual ceases to be merely an end in himself, he be- 
comes also the means to the realization of the ends of 



8 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

others. The same thing may be said about the spe- 
ciahzed organizations within the group. In the large 
business concern, there are special departments of 
advertising, of salesmanship, of accounting, etc. These 
have their meaning and significance only in their re- 
lationship to the primary purposes of the entire or- 
ganization within which they perform certain func- 
tions. 

Education as Adjustment 
Meaning of adjustment. 

The mental and social sciences are using the term 
''adjustment to environment" so freely that it may 
become familiar to us without our really thinking or 
knowing what it means. We are apt to pick it up from 
current usage and adopt it as a part of our scientific 
jargon without realizing that it is merely a conven- 
tional catch phrase without meaning to us. Such terms 
as this, familiar in sound, but not expressing any real 
thought or conveying thought to others, become very 
dangerous in the discussion of education, politics, and 
religion. Hence it will pay us to spend some time in 
clearing up the whole idea of adjustment. 

From the very outset we must be very careful to 
understand that adjustment as we use the term in edu- 
cation implies not a mechanical process, but a dynamic 
one. We derive the term not from physics but from 



THE BIOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW 9 

biology. In the case of physical things, it is true that 
adjustment, or right working relations of things with 
one another, may be established by mechanical pro- 
cesses. You can adjust a belt to a wheel in the oper- 
ation of a machine by tightening the belt until it is 
carried with the minimum of friction and the maximum 
of power. You can adjust a piano stool to the height 
of the player by screwing it up or down until it suits. 
But neither the belt nor the stool can have any active 
part in the matter. They are operated on from without. 
In the case of a living thing, however, the organism 
is itself an active, or dynamic, center of readjustment. 
It is a behaving thing as contrasted with the belt or 
the stool, and through its behavior it meets needs of 
its own. 

If the function of education is to be found in any 
part which it plays in the process of adjustment, we 
have a right to say at this point that education is 
not a mechanical process but a dynamic one. It 
cannot be conceived as doing something to the pupil, 
or imparting something to him, whether of skill or of 
knowledge, from without. It is not a process of im- 
posing something on him by the teacher or the school. 
His adjustment to the environment is something which 
he must effect for himself through his own activities. 
This he will accomplish to a certain extent without any 
aid from others. His knowledge, skill, and character 



10 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

must come through the active process of meeting his 
own needs in the various situations that confront him. 
There is no escape from this conclusion. All that 
education can do in the matter, from the scientific 
point of view, is to facilitate the process of adjustment 
in two ways : first, by providing a rich environment as 
a basis of stimulation and of materials; and second, 
by giving a limited amount of guidance and direction 
to the activities involved. 

Factors involved in adjustment. 

The biological point of view can be cleared up still 
further by some discussion of the factors involved in 
human adjustment. Roughly speaking these are three : 
the environment, the individual, and the existing 
action system by means of which the individual reacts 
upon his environment. We need to know the meaning 
of these, if we are to define the educational problem 
more precisely and to formulate the function of educa- 
tion in more specific terms. 

The environment. — In the popular sense of the word, 
the environment of anything is that which surrounds 
it. For our purposes this conception is inadequate. 
The surroundings of the dog and his master may be 
identical but their environments radically different. 
This may be true even of children of the same family. 
The newspaper, the paintings on the wall, the books 



THE BIOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW 11 

on the shelves, the striking of the clock do not enter 
into the environment of the dog in the same sense as 
they do into that of his master. To the dog they are 
limited largely to the physical; to the man they are 
things that have a large meaning and significance. It 
is this larger meaning and significance"— largely non- 
existent for the dog — to which* the man responds, 
or which influences his conduct. When we use the 
term " environment" in education we mean everything 
to which human beings respond or which is capable 
of influencing them. From this point of view the en- 
vironment includes not only physical things and 
material forces but also things mental, moral, social, 
esthetic, and religious. The true, the beautiful, and 
the good are just as real in their influence on men as 
earth, air, fire, and water. 

With the progress of civilization the environment 
of man has been tremendously enriched and expanded 
with the achievements of the mind and the spirit. 
The great personalities of all the ages still live in the 
vital ideas which they projected. The lives and 
teachings of Socrates, Moses, and Jesus are a very 
potent part of our environment. They even influence 
men who have never heard of them. So with the 
great painters, sculptors, musicians, writers, scientists, 
inventors, captains of industry, social reformers, states- 
men, etc. By these and by millions of humbler folk the 



12 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

face of the world has been transformed until it almost 
ceases to be physical, so charged is it with human 
achievements, hopes, ambitions, desires, aspirations, 
ideals, and interpretations. He is certainly not an 
educated man who has not achieved a large responsive- 
ness to this enriched environment embodying the 
higher human values that distinguish civilization from 
savagery. From the point of view of adjustment to 
the environment, education must assist in meeting 
the needs of men who are 'Hhe heirs of all the ages 
in the foremost files of time." Man is to live and 
work in a world that has been reconstructed and en- 
riched with the heritage of all the past. 

Still further, the environment of which we must 
think when we are considering the problem of educa- 
tion is not a static one. Change is very rapid in the 
modern world. Adjustment is not merely to things- 
as-they-are. We must have regard to things-as-they- 
will-become and to things-as-they-ought-to-be. It is 
a progressive environment which confronts the product 
of our schools. Hence education must take account 
of those factors in the process of adjustment that make 
it possible for men to change their environment to meet 
new and changing needs. It must emphasize intelli- 
gence, initiative, originality, enterprise. It is not so 
much a fixed adjustment that we want as it is adjust- 
ability. This thought leads us naturally to the con- 



THE BIOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW 13 

sideration of the next factor in adjustment, namely, 
the individual who is to be educated. 

The individual, — The human being is a dynamic in- 
dividual, not merely the creature of circumstances. 
By heredity he brings with him a physical organ- 
ism that represents a great complex, or tangle, of 
needs. He is a living bundle of impulses that seek 
expression, that press insistently for satisfaction. He 
is not merely waiting to be acted upon, molded, or 
fashioned; by his inherent nature he tends to act. 
As a baby he cries, kicks, squirms, thrusts with his 
arms, and manipulates with his fingers. Through- 
out his childhood he is ''spilling over" with activities 
— with play, constructive impulses, tendencies to ex- 
plore with eyes, hands, and mouth, tendencies to 
investigate, imagine, think, etc. These natural tend- 
encies are, on the one hand, expressive of primary 
needs and, on the other hand, they determine the trunk 
lines of the earlier forms of behavior. They condi- 
tion the process of adjustment to the environment, 
and hence they must be the starting point in the edu- 
cative process. 

The action system^ or mechanism of behavior, — The 
third factor in adjustment is the mechanism of be- 
havior by means of which the individual expresses 
his natural tendencies and reacts upon his environ- 
ment to satisfy his needs. Now the striking thing 



14 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

about this in the case of man is that he starts with an 
action system that is very imperfect, very poorly 
adapted to meet his numerous and complex needs. 
As compared with that of the chicken, the puppy, or 
the calf, the behavior of the human young is very 
chaotic and unorganized. His effective adjustments 
to the world in which he lives are largely yet to be made. 
He is helpless, dependent, and subject to parental care 
for a long series of years. During a long period of 
plasticity he has to work out the methods and processes 
of successful behavior for himself. 

Conditions That Make Education Necessary 

In the facts that we now have before us of an en- 
riched and progressive environment, the dynamic 
human being, and the imperfect action system of the 
child, we see the conditions that make education neces- 
sary. The imperfect action system of the child must 
be developed, and the physical and mental processes 
essential to well-ordered and effective behavior must 
be brought under control. In the course of a few 
years the child born helpless, ignorant, and dependent 
must be adjusted to a rich, complex, and changing 
environment. He must have acquired the funda- 
mental methods and processes of business, govern- 
ment, art, religion, and some specific vocation. The 
rising generation must take over into their lives all 



THE BIOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW 15 

the fundamental values of civilization that have been 
acquired in thousands of years of progress. Further- 
more, control over the process of adjustment itself 
must be achieved. There must be such a development 
of insight, intelligence, originality, and initiative that 
further modifications both of the self and of the phys- 
ical and social environment can be made in the interest 
of further progress. While all three of these demands 
might conceivably be met in some measure through 
the friction of experience, at least after the earliest 
years of physical dependence are past, yet the processes 
of human life are so complex that the chances of full, 
free, and flexible adjustment to the environment are 
certainly very small on this basis. The interests 
both of the individual and of society demand the 
conscious and intelligent guidance and direction of 
the young in the matter of getting into right working 
relations with the facts and forces of the world in which 
they live. Education is a fundamental social necessity 
of the modern world, a social function that cannot safely 
be ignored. 

The Ideal of the Whole Self in Education 

One of the most important contributions which the 
biological point of view makes to education is to be 
found in the emphasis which it puts on the dynamic 
relation of all parts of the organism to one another 



16 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

within the Hving whole. It puts great stress on the 
unity and continuity of mental and bodily activities, 
and in the sphere of the mind it makes evident the 
interdependence and functional relationship to one 
another of intellectual, emotional, and volitional pro- 
cesses. In its bearing on education this might be 
expressed by saying that it emphasizes the ideal of the 
whole self in education. The child who comes to 
school in the morning does not bring his mind into 
the classroom and check his body in the hall ; neither, 
when he goes to the playground, the gymnasium, or 
the manual training room, does he put his mind away 
with his books in his desk. Both body and mind inter- 
act in all that he does. Each has its function to 
perform in the entire whole of his activity. 

Organic relation of body and mind. 

In physical education it is coming to be recognized 
that those forms of physical exercise which are en- 
joyed are superior to those which are accompanied by 
a disagreeable feeling tone. Pleasure means heightened 
vitality; the unpleasant and disagreeable actually 
lower the vital tone of the organism. The physical 
value of walking around the city block forty times 
does not equal that of the same amount of walking in 
pleasant companionship or in search of wild flowers, 
fish, or game. The exhilarating effects of bicycle 



THE BIOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW 17 

riding do not come wholly from the amount of exer- 
tion, but also from the excitement of gliding along 
so rapidly. This gives an added sense of freedom 
and power which is satisfying and recreative. The 
physical value of formal gymnastics, except for certain 
corrective purposes, is not comparable to that of ten- 
nis, rowing, or other forms of sport. One thing that 
makes play the most vital form of physical exercise 
is the fact that the child throws his whole self into it. 
There is zest, thrill, glow of soul due to the activity 
of the imagination, the alertness of attention, and the 
varied and everchanging physical activity. The tonic 
effect of the play of the mental processes and of the 
emotional satisfaction is not separable from the effect 
of the physical exercise itself. In rightly organized 
physical education, they will all be taken into account. 
Looked at in reverse, we can say also that bodily 
conditions affect mental action. Health, vigor, and 
vitality are conducive to good mental work. Fatigue, 
bad air, malnutrition, extremes of temperature inter- 
fere with the working of the mind. It has been demon- 
strated that adenoids, diseased tonsils, and colds all 
tend to lower the vitality and to retard the progress 
of pupils. Even will is not a purely mental fact; 
vitality, energy, and nerve force are integral factors 
in strength of will. Anything that contributes to nor- 
mal health and bodily vigor is not foreign to the mental 



18 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

and moral aims of education. While we have numerous 
cases of strong minds in weak bodies, we nevertheless 
expect the maximum of mental vigor in any individual 
to be coincident with the maximum of bodily energy 
at his disposal. Into a mental task it is the whole 
self that is put and not merely the mind. This idea 
might be carried out still farther to show that the 
whole self which functions in mental tasks includes 
moral and social factors. The sense of responsibility 
and of moral obligation is an added incentive to effort. 
Ideals, through their grip on the feelings, intensify 
motivation. The social sense of loyalty to the group 
and the desire of social approval may give steadiness 
and heightened vitality to the mental reactions. Even 
poets, inventors, scientists, statesmen, and philanthro- 
pists are moved by the thought of fame. The social 
situation often gives zest and point to the mental 
efforts of school children. The mind is often keener 
and more subtle in a social situation than it is in one's 
library. 

The part that physical activity plays in the mental 
life may be seen from still another angle. According 
to current psychology, consciousness is not a luxury. 
It does not put in its appearance unless needed. It 
is needed when organized modes of motor reaction, 
such as reflexes, instinctive acts, and habits, break 
down, are blocked, or in some other way fail to meet 



THE BIOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW 19 

the needs of the individual. The Hfe of the child is 
just full of such problematic situations in the meeting 
of which consciousness has a value. He has more 
tendencies to action, more numerous needs to meet, 
than any of the other animals; but these tendencies 
are not organized in advance for effective motor expres- 
sion. The child is confronted repeatedly with situations 
in which he has to organize, direct, and control new 
modes of procedure. In such attempts his conscious 
processes are called forth and they grow in definiteness, 
relevancy, and in specialized function in the light of 
his experience. It has been pointed out by the biol- 
ogists that the superior flexibility of the body of man, 
and in particular of his hands, has tremendously 
widened the range of his activities and increased the 
delicacy of his manipulations. This is not without its 
mental consequences. Man comes into more intimate 
and varied relationship with his environment, and his 
conscious processes are stimulated, drawn into use, and 
perfected. On account of this relation of motility 
to the development and specialization of conscious 
processes, it has been wittily said that in the evolu- 
tion of the race "the mind of man is literally hand 
made." It is certain that the motor activities are 
exceedingly important in the mental training of 
children. Widen the range of their physical activi- 
ties and see that they are confronted with situa- 



20 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

tions calling for the organization, direction, and con- 
trol of such activities, and you have furnished the 
conditions for mental activity and mental develop- 
ment. It is not a matter of educational caprice but 
of psychological conviction that makes us insist on 
the educational value as strongly as on the vocational 
worth of the various manual arts. It is this same 
conviction that lies back of the emphasis that is now 
being placed on the project method wherever it can 
be applied. 

We might conclude this discussion of the educational 
interrelationships of body and mind by pointing out 
the fact that the body is the instrument through which 
the mind expresses itself. But it is not a ready made 
instrument like the piano which one can buy and then 
learn to play upon it. The relationships between 
the mind and its instrument have to be set up by the 
individual himself. The bonds of connection have to 
be established in experience. From this point of 
view habit formation is essential to effective mental 
action. Habits are not necessarily just specialized 
modes of physical reaction. They ought to be de- 
veloped under such conditions that they are so thor- 
oughly coordinated with ideas that they become 
modes of mental expression. This ought to be true 
of such organized and highly specialized activities as 
those of penmanship, typewriting, piano playing, mod- 



THE BIOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW 21 

ulation of the voice, observance of social conventions, 
etc. In so far as ideas can play down on these habits 
and touch them off, in so far as they are at the beck 
and call of ideas, they become methods of mental 
expression in the free and flexible control of situations. 
The mastery of the motor technique of piano playing 
may yield marvelous powers of manual gymnastic 
with a minimum of music. On the other hand, where 
the habits involved have always been kept in close 
correlation with the spirit of the music that was to 
be expressed, the skilled technique of the pianist is a 
most marvelous expression of what he feels in his soul. 
There is no legitimate isolation of motor habit from 
the mind which is to operate it. Any habit that gets 
complete isolation from some center of ideational 
control ought to be looked upon with suspicion, and 
methods of instruction that produce such isolation by 
perfecting the habit apart from the situations in which 
it has meaning and significance is psychologically 
condemned at the outset. Habits not under the con- 
trol of the mind mean a disrupted self instead of a 
unified one. We have tended too much to set habit 
and thought over against each other as antithetical. 
Habit is something like a machine which thought can 
set going and thus relieve itself of much of its mental 
drudgery. But it has no value in and of itself, it has 
to be directed and utilized by the mind. Even good 



m EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

thinking depends upon the organization and utili- 
zation of many previous mental processes that have 
become habitual. In all of those school activities 
which are designed to establish useful motor habits, 
we want the group of minor acts that are coordinated 
into the new habit to be so thoroughly welded together 
into one complex that they require no thought for 
their execution. But at the same time we want the 
habit formed under conditions such that when it is 
established it operates as an instrument of the whole 
self in the accomplishment of its purposes. This will 
usually mean that it should be under the control from 
the outset of some idea, set of ideas, or ideal, and not 
become a mere automatism. 

Organic relation of intellect, feeling, and will. 

The older psychology regarded intellect, feeling, 
and will as three more or less distinct faculties. From 
the biological point of view, they must be regarded 
rather as interdependent and interrelated functions. 
Each has its work to do in a problematic situation call- 
ing for mental action, but no one of these functions is 
independent and distinct from the others. This can 
best be seen through the discussion of an illustration. 

As I am walking along the street, suppose my atten- 
tion is attracted by a burning building. Intellectual 
activities are aroused through which I perceive smoke. 



THE BIOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW 23 

flames, people at the windows calling for help. The 
meaning of all this in terms of my past experience is 
given to me as fire and people in danger of their lives. 
Imagination pictures vividly what will happen if no 
help comes. I wonder if the fire company has been 
called and whether they will arrive in time. Now all 
this intellectual activity conceivably might go on 
simply as a matter of curiosity. Nothing would be 
done by me to remedy the situation any more than it 
would be if I were looking at a moving picture. But 
normally the mind does not work that way. The in- 
tellectual activities do not go on in a water-tight com- 
partment of the mind. They are organically related 
to the feelings and the will just as truly as the beating 
of the heart is related to the vital processes of every 
organ of the body. Normally I cannot see the burning 
building, understand what it means, and picture in 
my mind the fate of the people cut off from escape 
without at the same time experiencing a tremendous 
wave of feeling. This feeling is not simply a by-prod- 
uct of my intellectual activities, but it has a value 
and function in the determination of adaptive behavior. 
My sympathy for the victims identifies me with them 
in a common cause. I have become a part of their 
situation ; their situation has become a matter of con- 
cern to me. I have been brought into this situation 
in such a way that I cannot escape its consequences. 



24 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

If they perish, I am unhappy ; if they are saved their 
joy is my joy, too. Intellectual activities have per- 
formed the function of bringing the situation before 
me and making clear what it means ; feeling has done 
the work of identifying the situation with me so that 
it is a matter of concern to me. Intellect gives the 
objective aspect of the situation, feeling the subjective. 
But these two functions of consciousness do not com- 
plete the process by which the needs of this vital situ- 
ation shall be met. Something must be done. My 
will must function. Here again we may say that the 
volitional activities are not merely a by-product of the 
intellectual and feeling processes. The tendency to 
react is more or less inherent as soon as the situation 
develops enough so that I know what it means. But 
effective action is not likely to grow out of blind im- 
pulse to do. I might rush ahead and do all sorts of 
foolish things in my eagerness to help. It is important 
that I know what I can do and that I hold myself to 
the line of action that I know to be best. This may be 
to run to the fire alarm box and call up the fire depart- 
ment rather than to rush headlong to the fire and do 
the first thing that is prompted by chance. Will im- 
plies guidance, direction, control of action. If my in- 
tellectual activities have made me comprehend the 
situation and have enabled me to project a plan of 
procedure, and my feelings have so identified me with 



THE BIOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW 25 

the situation that I am driven to act just the same as 
if my own fate depended on doing something; then 
will consists in holding myself steadily and persist- 
ently to the plan dictated by intelligence instead of 
allowing activity to take a random and aimless course. 
It isn't the amount of energy that is expended that in- 
dicates will ; it is rather the tenacity and intelligence 
with which one carries through a project, holding 
himself strictly to relevant lines of action. Thus we 
see intellect, feeling, and will as functions of the mind 
each having its own specific task in adaptive behavior. 
They are organically and dynamically related to one 
another in a complete whole of activity. 

If we should work out our illustration in more detail 
we should find that intellect, feeling, and will are inter- 
dependent and interrelated throughout the whole 
mental crisis. The intellectual activity is not com- 
pleted before feeling responds and volitional tendencies 
manifest themselves. Undoubtedly the minute the 
large, heavy mass of smoke appears and is recognized, 
my feelings are aroused, and I am prompted to act. 
The stirring of my feelings gives an added impetus to 
further intellectual activities ; I observe more closely 
what is happening. And as I see more clearly the 
nature of the situation my feelings are still further 
aroused. Under the impulse of this quickening of 
my feelings, my imagination is stimulated; sugges- 



26 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

tions of things to be done flash rapidly through my 
mind. The more relevant these suggestions appear 
the more do they arouse hopeful feelings, joyful antici- 
pations of the rescue of the victims. This account has 
given only a slight intimation of the intricate interplay 
of intellectual and emotional processes in their actual 
effect on each other. Volitional tendencies are inter- 
twined all the way through this interplay of feeling 
and thought. The intensification of feeling at any 
point, providing it is not excessive feeling, acts as a 
spur to thinking and tends to push the self more vig- 
orously into both mental and physical action ; there is 
something propulsive about it. Feeling cannot be 
isolated from will, it is a dynamic factor in will. The 
clarification of thought, the clear grasp of the situ- 
ation and what it demands, is the guiding element in 
effective volition. At every stage in the critical situ- 
ation confronting me, I must control both my thought 
processes and my motor tendencies and see that they 
move in the path of largest relevancy. Such control 
is will. But I cannot find this element of control in 
any separate faculty of mind. It is partly the con- 
straining influence of my feelings and ideals deter- 
mining me to certain choices of behavior rather than 
to others, and it is partly the guidance of my action 
by my deliberation and my trained intelligence. 
This doctrine of the organic unity of intellect, feel- 



THE BIOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW 27 

ing, and will has very great significance for education. 
It strikes at once at the root of a great many discon- 
tinuities of educational practice. There can be no 
magic set of exercises cunningly devised by the school- 
master for training in isolation, or separately from one 
another, the various faculties. The mystical value 
of syntax and of syllogisms for training the reasoning 
faculties is gone. Reasoning is not an end in itself. 
Normally it represents an effort of the mind that 
occurs when it is worth while to reason to get some- 
thing done in which intellectual activities can play a 
part. Neither is it a normal process of training the 
will to 3et it to work on the educational stone pile. 
Will does not function that way in the real world. 
Effort is put forth most freely and lavishly on things 
that have a meaning and significance and which the 
individual feels as worth while. Merely overcoming 
obstacles under external compulsion may produce the 
weakness of will characteristic of the slave. The cul- 
tivation of the will is in large part a matter of the 
dynamism of ideals. The child's will is no exception 
to this principle. It must be trained by exercise 
voluntarily undertaken to accomplish tasks that are 
vital to the self. I would rather have a pupil throwing 
his whole self into a task because he sees its significance 
and it seems to him abundantly worth while than to 
have him become a dilettante in effort in just getting a 



28 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

safe passing grade. The training in will in the former 
case is likely to make for a larger success in life than in 
the latter. This does not mean that one should not 
be trained in the school to face and conquer disagree- 
able tasks. The virtue, however, must not be assigned 
to the disagreeableness but rather to the strength, 
force, and grip of the ideal that the pupil knows and 
feels is worth sacrificing for. The same point of view 
holds for the school training of the feelings. A whole- 
some life of sentiment and appreciation must be de- 
veloped from experiences in which feeling has a value 
and is not merely an effervescence or affectation. 
Much of the so-called appreciation of art, music, and 
literature is purely conventional. It is the phonographic 
record of the critic, not the inner response of the in- 
dividual. This is bound to be the case when training 
in art appreciation is made an isolated thing in the 
school. Pupils must be confronted with situations 
in which the feelings are generated that call for the 
various art forms. Crude drawings, simple songs, 
ungrammatical compositions are acceptable at the 
first if they have the merit of being real, and the emo- 
tions which they express are genuine. Experience 
must be enriched with art expression and with art forms 
relevant to the stage of the child's experience if he is 
to attain real appreciation. Social sympathy runs the 
risk also of becoming conventional. The case of Rous- 



THE BIOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW 29 

seau is a classic illustration of this. He expressed the 
most beautiful sentiments about parenthood and the 
care of children; his own children were sent to the 
orphan asylum. In a small college located in the heart 
of a wholesome, democratic, agricultural district, the 
wife of the president was heard to gushingly remark, 
"How I do admire the boy who is so ambitious for a 
college education that he is willing to work his own 
way !" As a matter of fact this was just a bit of popu- 
lar American sentiment that for her was purely con- 
ventional, if one can judge of it from her actual attitude 
toward these same young men. The fundamental 
social sentiments that underlie democracy cannot be 
taught by precept alone. They may read well in 
books and appeal to the imagination, but they will 
not grow and take vital root in the soil of the heart where 
the practice of the public school favors snobbishness. 

The Idea of Function in Education 

The idea derived from biology. 

From the biological point of view all living things 
meet their needs through processes of adaptive be- 
havior. Evolutionary theory teaches us that this adap- 
tive behavior itself depends on specializations of struc- 
ture that have been built up through successive gen- 
erations by minute variations that have proved to be 
useful. Organisms in which useful variations occurred 



30 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

had an advantage in the struggle for existence; they 
survived and propagated their kind where others per- 
ished. Hence we come to beUeve as a general prin- 
ciple that every characteristic of a species of plants 
or of animals has come to be what it is because in the 
various stages of its evolution it has served a useful 
function. The spines on the cactus of the desert are 
not merely interesting freaks of nature; they repre- 
sent survivals of countless variations that contributed 
to the life of the species by saving them from the 
destruction of browsing animals seeking food in a region 
of comparatively scant vegetation. The diminution 
of foliage and the evolution of woody fiber contributed 
also to survival by preventing rapid evaporation of 
moisture. Thus we explain the characteristic features 
of the cactus. The evolution of the horny hoof of the 
horse had a value in enabling him to run faster over the 
plains in the search for food or in his attempt to es- 
cape from his carnivorous enemies. In man, the 
evolution of flexibility of arm and of hand made 
possible the use of tools and the application of his 
growing intelligence to the arts of life. From the 
biological point of view, the various mental, moral, 
and social traits of man have functional significance. 
The evolution of music, art, and religion would be 
explained in the same way; they have had some 
value in the determination of adaptive behavior. 



THE BIOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW 31 

Function versus structure. 

The words " function " and " functional " have come 
into common use to emphasize several related points of 
view which are nevertheless different enough to cause 
trouble unless their meaning is cleared up. One of the 
uses of these terms is to point the contrast with an 
older point of view in science and education which 
emphasized the study of structure. In botany, men 
studied the structure of plants, analyzing specimens, 
comparing them with one another, and classifying them 
into species according to the outstanding similarities 
of their structural features. The problems of botany 
were largely those of identification, description, and 
classification. The theory of evolution centered at- 
tention on a new class of problems, those of genesis, 
growth, and function. We study the methods of life 
that are characteristic of the different plants. We 
try to find out what are their characteristic modes of 
adaptive behavior and what their significance is in 
the habitat of the plants studied. How do these plants 
meet their needs? In the meeting of their needs, 
what specializations of structure have become signifi- 
cant, and why ? What essential work is done by leaf, 
root, bark, etc. ? and how is it done ? Classification 
still is necessary, but it is made from a different point 
of view, not based wholly upon structural likenesses 



32 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

but more particularly on evidence of like heredity as 
seen in the similarity of life processes. The same 
transformation has taken place in the zoological sci- 
ences, the same shifting of emphasis from the struc- 
tural to the functional point of view. 

The changed point of view from structure to function 
may be illustrated in two common school subjects, 
physiology and civics. In the older physiologies a 
great deal of attention was given to the analysis of the 
bodily structures. We studied the skeleton, learning 
its main divisions and all the bones of the body. We 
studied the muscular system and the nervous system 
in like manner. We learned the location, size, and 
structure of all the internal organs. Enumeration, 
classification, and description were the big things. At 
the present time, we approach the subject from the 
angle of the needs of the organism and the functions 
that are necessary to the maintenance and perpetuation 
of life. The various specialized structures and organs 
of the body are studied to find out how the necessary 
activities are carried on. The primary questions are 
not, W^hat is the heart and where is it located ? What 
are the lungs and how are they composed .^^ etc., but 
rather such questions as these : Why must the blood 
reach every part of the body, and how does it do this ? 
How are heat and energy generated, and how are the 
waste products of combustion eliminated ? Structures 



THE BIOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW 33 

are studied, of course, but they are seen as mechanisms 
that have evolved to perform more adequately neces- 
sary functions. From this point of view In physiology, 
a larger emphasis Is put on hygiene and a relatively 
smaller amount of time Is given to the mastery of ana- 
tomical details as mere matters of fact. In the teaching 
of civics It Is easy to see this same shifting of emphasis 
from the structural to the functional point of view. 
We used to start with an analysis of the great depart- 
ments of government — legislative, judicial, and ex- 
ecutive. We learned how these are constituted, what 
are the officers In each, how they come to these offices, 
their qualifications, terms of office, salaries, prescribed 
duties, etc. To-day we start with the problems of 
social, or community, life. What things have to be 
done when people live In communities that do not 
have to be done when they live In Isolation .^^ How 
win the community get these things done.f^ In other 
words, we raise the question of social needs, and 
then we study the governmental machinery that has 
been developed to meet these needs. Here, as In 
physiology, the point of view Is that of function, and 
structures are studied to throw light upon the methods 
by which these functions are carried on. The con- 
stitution of the United States Is not viewed as so much 
given material to be memorized, but rather as represent- 
ing special organizations of governmental procedure 



34 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

designed to meet real needs and to be understood in 
the light of the conditions which called it. forth. 

If the reader will compare the older textbooks in 
grammar with the more recent ones in language, he 
will see this same shift of emphasis — more attention 
given to forms as mediums of expression and less to 
logical details of analysis and diagramming. Geog- 
raphy is much less structural, analytic, and purely 
descriptive; and it is becoming more and more a 
study of the methods of human life as determined by 
climatic and physiographic factors. History, too, is 
much less a matter of records of events to be learned 
and more a matter of principles of the development of 
civilization and of the life of nations. Ethics and 
religion are stressing much less the matters of precept 
and creed and much more the methods and activities 
of right living. Almost every subject taught in the 
schools has felt to some extent the influence of the 
theory of evolution in this respect, the tendency to 
throw into the foreground the idea of function and 
to subordinate that of structure to the part that it 
plays in perfecting functions. 

Function versus faculty. 

In psychology, the term function is now commonly 
used in contrast with the idea of faculty. The older 
psychology used to speak of the faculties of intellect, 



THE BIOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW 35 

feeling, and will ; the faculties of observation, memory, 
judgment, and reasoning. This word faculty implied 
some special innate power by reference to which you 
could explain all the mental actions of a certain class 
that occurred. Faculties were thought to unfold from 
within according to the laws of their nature in the 
process of growth and education ; or they were sharp- 
ened, disciplined, or trained by the exercises of the 
school. The term function implies merely the organi- 
zation of mental tendencies and activities into a mode 
of mental behavior. Just as I may organize my motor 
tendencies and activities into a mode of behavior that 
I call clasping my hands, or whittling with a knife, 
or skating; so I may organize mental tendencies and 
elementary mental processes into definite modes of 
mental behavior such as recalling at will certain facts 
useful in my business, noticing or observing the fine 
points of a horse or of an automobile, solving of prob- 
lems in algebra, etc. There is no faculty of memory, 
of observation, of reasoning to start with in these 
cases any more than there is a faculty of clasping the 
hands, of whittling, or of skating lying back of that 
class of activities. The term function may be applied 
to any set of connections that has been established 
between situations and the responses which the indi- 
vidual makes to them. "A mental function refers 
always to some actually or possibly observable events in 



36 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

behavior, not to any mythical entities beneath be- 
havior." ^ 

The abihty to remember the ten leading dates in 
United States History is a mental function in the 
sense of the word that there has been established 
a definite mode of mental behavior dependent on a 
set of connections fixed between certain dates and the 
responses of naming events corresponding to them. 
This mental function is very narrow, but it may grow 
by the addition of new bonds of connection between 
events and the dates corresponding to them. It does 
not grow by any process of unfoldment from within it- 
self; though it does presuppose a natural capacity 
which may differ by many degrees among individuals 
from the feeble-minded up to the most intelligent. 
The function, however, is just as narrow or just as 
broad as it has been made in the experience of the 
individual. The memory function under discussion 
implies nothing as to the memory of football scores, 
of telephone numbers, or of formulae of algebra. It 
may be broadened so as to reach over into these fields 
only by setting up specific bonds, or ties of connection, 
between the matters of fact concerned and their recall. 
Memory as a mental function is nothing but a set of 
organized modes of mental behavior with reference to 

^Thorndike, "Educational Psychology, Briefer Course," p. 181. See the en- 
tire passage, pp. 173-182. 



THE BIOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW 37 

certain bodies of fact, dependent for its excellence 
upon actual ties of connection that have been made in 
experience. It may be good in dates of history and 
poor in grammar; good in mathematics and poor in 
science. 

What we have said about memory as a function 
gives the point of view for conceiving of the func- 
tions of observation, judgment, reasoning, will, and 
feeling. The same point of view may be applied to 
moral and social functions. Honesty, for example, is 
a mode of social behavior which consists in very defi- 
nite and specific bonds of connection between certain 
situations and the responses appropriate to them. The 
only test of the moral function is to be found in specific 
cases of behavior. 

Functions may be called general when the same 
set of connections provides an organized mode of 
behavior that meets the needs of a whole group of 
situations of the same kind. It is one of the great 
tasks of education to develop such general func- 
tions. This would be illustrated in a subject like 
geometry by the mastery of modes of attack upon prob- 
lems, methods of procedure adapted to the various 
classes of problems — direct, indirect, redudio ad 
ahsurdum, method of limits, etc. — and the control- 
ling ideas involved in definitions, axioms, and proved 
theorems. 



38 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

There is a sense of the word also in which the term 
function has a prospective reference. For example, 
connections of various sorts have already been estab- 
lished within the field of history to the point that 
we say that the man has a good memory for his- 
tory, meaning that he can memorize new material 
easily. He has gained control of a set of memorizing 
habits, that is, a mode of behavior, or function, in the 
memorizing activity. But that this is different from 
the so-called faculty of memory is evidenced by the 
fact that his ability to memorize new bodies of material 
in history does not necessarily give him any added 
power in memorizing material in mathematics that is 
unintelligible to him. 

The significance of this doctrine of function as op- 
posed to faculty is very great when applied to educa- 
tion. It makes it very clear what the task of educa- 
tion is. We have to find out what kinds of knowledge, 
skill, moral and social reactions are needed for life and 
set up in the experience of pupils the actual connections 
that will establish them. We cannot lump the ability 
to spell, for example, off on to a mystical faculty of 
some sort. It is wholly a matter of organized modes 
of mental behavior in certain situations. It is a matter 
of establishing connections between sounds and written 
symbols in specific cases of through, believe, separate, 
etc. We have to find out what words are needed in 



THE BIOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW 39 

life and, under the proper conditions of age and stage 
of development of experience, see to it that the right 
habits are formed and fixed. When it comes to abili- ^ 
ties in reading, arithmetic, geography, language, man- 
ual arts, etc., the same principle holds. There is no 
mystical faculty of this, that, or the other sort that we 
can discipline by some magic set of exercises and then 
turn it loose to operate of its own accord. Learning 
is everywhere a matter of establishing specific bonds 
of connection between situations and the motor and 
mental responses appropriate to them. The more 
carefully a teacher analyzes the subject matter taught 
with reference to the specific significant responses of 
ideas, feelings, or of motor activity that are to be 
secured, the more likely the instruction of the class- 
room is to accomplish its legitimate aims. The more 
we trust to vague general notions of development, 
reasoning power, faculty of memory, executive ability, 
cleverness, etc., the less likely are we to reach any spe- 
cific goal of achievement in the educative process. 

Use of the term functionaL 

The term "functional" is applied both to the use 
of subject matter and to the method of instruction. 
This is the most common pedagogical use of the term. 
Subject matter is said to be functional when it meets 
a need in a specific situation in the life of the pupil. 



40 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

The method of instruction is said to be functional when 
it concerns itself with the awakening or development 
of needs on the part of children and their satisfaction 
as opposed to the method of assigning tasks or imposing 
lessons to be learned because the facts will sometime 
become useful. If children have had actual experi- 
ences calling for the use of number relationships until 
they realize that there would be an advantage in han- 
dling these number relationships more rapidly, then it 
would be functional to teach the addition combina- 
tions, or the multiplication combinations, systematically 
and drill on them until they are brought under ready 
control. This would be true even if there have not 
arisen in experience needs as yet for all of the combina- 
tions, provided there has been enough experience of 
need for the class to see and to feel the worth of bring- 
ing them all under control. The subject matter taught 
in this case would be functional, too, because it is 
relevant to actual experience and plays a part in the 
perfection of that experience. To teach reading before 
the child has any interest in stories w^ould be to teach 
it before the need for it has developed and hence would 
not be functional. To plunge a class suddenly into 
Latin or chemistry or physics without developing any 
consciousness of need for these things is a violation of 
the principle of function ; and what is true of the sub- 
ject in general is true also of every topic in the subject. 



THE BIOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW 41 

The ideal of function in method is the facilitation of 
some sort of behavior — mental, motor, social, or 
moral — at the point and under the conditions of actual 
need for some specific knowledge, skill, or ideal. Some 
people think that because they are teaching useful 
things their instruction satisfies the ideal of function; 
but this is not necessarily true. A thing may be use- 
ful but not useful here and now in the developing 
experience of the pupil. To be functional it must 
meet an existing need and not merely a prospective 
one. Skill in teaching consists very largely in trans- 
forming prospective needs into existing ones. Neither 
is the functional to be identified with the practical. 
So long as that which we teach meets a need that is 
real in the experience of the pupil, whether that need 
may be classified as practical, theoretical, moral, social, 
or religious, the method which assists the pupil in meet- 
ing the need is functional and the subject matter which 
satisfies it is functional. 

Another use of the term function. 

There is a mathematical use of the term function 
that is not inappropriate to biological situations. In 
algebra, when a certain quantity, x, in the equation 
has a value which depends on that of another quantity, 
y, so that the value of x changes with every change 
in the value of y, then x is said to be a function of y. 



42 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

expressed x =f(y). This would be evident in such 
an equation as x -{- ^y = 10, In this case, if y = 1, 
X = 8; ii y = ^, X = 6; ii y = 0, x = 10; etc. In 
like manner x might be a function of several variables. 
The area of a rectangle, for example, equals the product 
of its base and altitude; if base and altitude were 
continuously changing at the same time, then it is 
evident that the area would be a variable that might 
be expressed by saying that it is a function of the base 
and the altitude. To apply this idea of function to 
our discussion of the interrelationship of intellect, 
feeling, and will (p. 22), it would be true to the con- 
ception there developed to say that intellect is a func- 
tion of feeling and will, feeling is a function of intellect 
and will, and will is a function of feeling and intellect. 
Using the initial letters of intellect, feeling, and will 
as symbols, we would have the following three for- 
mulae: /=/(F,IF); F==f(I,W); W = f (F, I). 
There would be this difference however from a mathe- 
matical formula, we cannot formulate the relations 
between the quantities in exact terms. The first for- 
mula translated into educational situations would mean 
that the intellectual activity of the pupil engaged in 
any lesson will vary with two things — the strength 
of his feeling, or sense of worth whileness, and the 
strength of his will. The second formula would mean 
that the feeling, or appreciation, of the pupil is a vari- 



THE BIOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW 43 

able dependent on his understanding of the significance 
of a thing and his will to accomplish it. The third 
formula would mean that will is a variable in a situa- 
tion in which feeling and intellect contribute something. 
The pupil puts forth more effort on something that he 
understands and which he appreciates. 

This way of thinking of the interdependence and 
interrelation of all the factors of a human situation may 
be extended to take account of the physical, social, 
and moral as well as the various aspects of the mental. 
Taken in this way, the idea of function is very sugges- 
tive for education. Suppose we apply it to a particular 
case and see what it would mean. Take the case of 
the apparent stupidity of Willie Jones. Offhand the 
teacher and the supervisor both say that he is stupid. 
But what is stupidity .^^ Is it a fixed and final thing? 
or is it a factor in a complex situation, varying with 
the nature and relationship of the other factors to one 
another.^ Perhaps S = f(A, jT, M, 0, etc.), in which 
the symbols stand for the following : adenoids, timid- 
ity, malnutrition, outside work selling newspapers 
early in the morning. If stupidity is found to be a 
function of such a set of variables, then we know what 
to do about it. Scolding or punishing won't do any 
good. It isn't anything that can be remedied by a 
direct attack. We must change the value of S by 
changing the values of one or more of the variables 



44 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

upon which its value depends. His adenoids must 
be removed, his timidity be overcome by a Uttle more 
effort on our part to draw him out and encourage him, 
attention must be given to his diet either through ad- 
vice to his mother or through the provision of a school 
lunch, and his outside work regulated or shifted. The 
badness of many a "bad boy" is a function of perfectly 
definite and ascertainable variables which give us the 
key to the method of changing it. The heedlessness 
and indifference of another pupil is a function of varia- 
bles that we could discover by patient investigation. 
In the work of the school, the conditions which affect 
any situation are so complex that almost any conceiv- 
able undesirable result can be remedied by finding out 
of what set of variables it is a function and operating 
upon them. 

Factors Involved in the Educative Process 

If we are to apply to the study of educational prin- 
ciples the biological conception of meeting the needs 
of life, we shall have to raise the question of the factors 
involved in the process and the part that each plays. 
The two primary factors are the child, or the pupil 
to be educated, and the curriculum, or the educative 
subject matter. These are inherent in all learning, 
or modification of behavior in the light of experience. 
The child is the center of needs that must be met if 



THE BIOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW 45 

life is to be maintained; the subject matter is that 
which satisfies or meets needs. In its lowest terms 
education can go on without teacher, without conscious 
aim, without organized and directed method. But 
intentional education involves an understanding of 
the aim or goal that ought to be reached in assisting 
natural processes. It involves also a certain amount 
of control of conditions and organization of processes 
to insure the meeting of needs necessary to the best 
adjustment. Method does not leave the educative 
processes to chance, but guides, directs, and controls 
them with reference to the highest efficiency. The 
conduct of education with reference to specific aims 
and by controlled methods of procedure presupposes 
a teacher, or group of teachers, trained and intelligent 
enough to intervene at the right time and under the 
right conditions to assist nature most fully in her edu- 
cative task. The general plan of our further discus- 
sion is thus determined by these five factors in the edu- 
cational situation. Genetically, or in terms of its 
coming to the consciousness of the race, the aim of 
education does not come first; but for purposes of 
our discussion there seems to be an advantage in con- 
sidering first the meaning and aim of education, to be 
followed by discussions of the child, the curriculum, 
the method, and the teacher. 



46 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

Summary 

Education is nowadays conceived in biological terms. We try 
to find out what the needs of life are and the methods by which 
they are normally met in human experience. Conscious educa- 
tion organizes, directs, and controls the natural educative agencies 
and processes to make them more efl&cient. 

Education is functional ; it plays a part within a living whole, 
called an organism. The outstanding characteristics of an or- 
ganism that are most significant for education are the following : 
an organism has needs ; it is capable of behavior ; this behavior 
may be adaptive, capable of satisfying needs ; in the activity of 
the organism all parts, organs, specialized structures, and physical 
and mental tendencies are interdependent and interrelated. So- 
cial groups, both natural and artificial, exhibit characteristics 
which make it appropriate to speak of them as organic unities, 
though not organisms. 

The processes by which organisms meet their needs are called 
methods of adjustment. Adjustment is not something mechanical, 
but vital and dynamic; hence education is a dynamic process, 
going on in response to inner needs and by means of self-activities. 
Human adjustment involves three factors : (1) the environment 
to which the individual responds — everything physical, mental, 
and social which is capable of influencing him; (2) the human 
individual, with an original nature which is dynamic, under the 
pressure of insistent needs impelling to action ; and (3) an action 
system which is imperfect at birth and which develops through a 
long period of time. Because the human child is confronted with 
an environment which is complex and ever changing, because his 
own needs multiply with his own development and with the prog- 
ress of civilization, and because he has an action system that is 
imperfect at the start, necessitating much trial and error before 
adjustments are effected, conscious education becomes necessary 
to facilitate learning and make it more rapid and eflScient. 



I 



THE BIOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW 47 

The biological conception of education puts into the foreground 
the ideal of the whole self. Mind and body cannot be educated 
in isolation from each other. Physical education has a mental 
aspect, and mental education is bound up with bodily conditions 
and with motor activities. In every school task intellectual, 
emotional, and volitional processes play a part, each being neces- 
sarily involved ; hence methods of instruction that ignore any 
one of them lack vitality and the normal reality of life. The 
biological conception contributes to education the idea of function. 
With this idea in the ascendancy we tend to put less stress on the 
analysis and description of structure and more on the processes 
of life, to explain activities not by referring them to mystical 
faculties but rather to bonds of connection established in experi- 
ence between situations of life and the responses that meet needs, 
and finally to teach children at the time and under the conditions 
that subject matter and method will facilitate learning processes 
already under way or that are incipient, instead of forcing instruc- 
tion upon them in anticipation of future needs. Even the mathe- 
matical conception of function is valuable for education in so far 
as it suggests methods of controlling refractory elements of a situa- 
tion through changes in other elements dynamically related to 
them. 

Supplementary Readings 

Angell, James R., Psychology, Ch. 1. 

Bagley, William C, Educative Process, Ch. 1. 

Bolton, F. E., Principles of Education, Ch. 1. 

Dewey, John, Democracy and Education, Chs. 1 and 2. 

Henderson, E. N., Principles of Education, Ch. 2. 

HoRNE, H. H., Philosophy of Education, Ch. 2. 

James, William, Talks to Teachers, Ch. 3. 

Miller, Irving E., Psychology of Thinking, Chs. 1-7. 

O'Shea, M.V., Education as Adjustment, pp. 44-51, 76-93, 99-104. 

Ruediger, William C, Principles of Education, Ch. 2. 



CHAPTER II 

THE MEANING AND AIM OF EDUCATION 

Why is it necessary to define the aim of education? 
Should the aim be determined subjectively or objectively? 
How does the biological conception of education suggest 
an objective standard? and what standard is suggested? 
What necessary elements in the aim are suggested by the 
doctrine of adjustment (1) as applied to the human indi- 
vidual, (2) as applied to society? Do the individual and 
the social aims of education conflict ? or are they correlative ? 
Is the aim of education to be realized in the present life of 
the pupil ? or at some future time ? or does it have a two- 
fold reference ? 

The Need of an Objective Standard 

Chance shots are not very likely to hit the target. 
Good gunning is dependent on the knowledge of the 
goal and on the ability to control eye and hand in the 
process of shooting. In social and intellectual matters, 
however, it is very often difficult to determine what 
the goal is. Subjective interests and attitudes are 
likely to enter in, and we know that these vary greatly 
among the best of people. It is diflficult to get a per- 
fectly objective standard. This is particularly true 

48 



THE MEANING AND AIM OF EDUCATION 49 

of education, which touches the Hves of us all so in- 
timately. Every man tends to set up his own judg- 
ment as superior and as decisive in the matter. In 
this respect, we are not much different from the people 
of Athens in the days of Socrates. 

Socrates^ standard of function. 

In the time of Socrates it was quite a popular view 
that there was no such thing as a standard either of 
knowledge or of conduct. It was held by the sophists 
that all things are what they appear to be, but this 
appearance is different for different people and even 
for the same person at different times. There is no 
such thing as knowledge, only individual opinion is 
possible. From this position it was an easy step to 
the view that there are no standards of right and wrong. 
These are matters of individual judgment. Right 
and wrong are purely relative to the individual and 
his interests. This easy-going philosophy was abhor- 
rent to the stern Socrates. He was sure that it must 
be wrong because it disrupted the most precious values 
of life ; it destroyed the moral sanctions. He attacked 
the philosophy of the sophists on its own grounds. He 
also appealed to actual experience. He studied in 
particular the activities of the artisan class. He 
found people making sandals, swords, armor, hel- 
mets, etc., according to a plan. When he questioned 



50 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

these skilled workers, he discovered that they were 
not making the things of their craft according to their 
own whims or caprices. They had a standard of ex- 
cellence toward which they were striving. These 
things were all to be put to some use, and they had to 
be made in such a way as to serve their proper function. 
He attained the highest excellence in his craft who knew 
most definitely what the function of that which he 
made was and who directed his activities with the 
greatest skill and intelligence to the production of the 
article that would best fulfill its function. This could 
not be a matter of his own opinion, it was a perfectly 
objective end that he sought. He was a good carpen- 
ter, a good shoemaker, a good boatmaker, who made 
the best product for use. Socrates believed that this 
principle applied in social and moral situations as well 
as in those which were industrial. His chief criticism 
of the teachers and the politicians of his day was pre- 
cisely at this point. He claimed that they neither 
knew what constituted the good, or excellence, in the 
activities with which they were concerned nor did 
they have the skill by means of which it could be at- 
tained. They trusted to vague subjective standards 
rather than to clear-cut objective standards. Con- 
sequently they moved continually within the circle 
of popular prejudices, preconceived ideas, and sub- 
jective interests. 



THE MEANING AND AIM OF EDUCATION 51 

The need of an objective standard in modern education. 

While the subject of education has received a great 
deal of careful attention in the past three centuries, 
we are still subject to great waves of impressionism. 
There is very wide variation in the formulation of the 
aim of education. This difference of opinion per- 
plexes us, and we wonder whether there is any use in 
trying to attain an objective standard. Ask the 
trained scholar what the aim of education is, and he 
is likely to say knowledge, culture, or discipline, or 
possibly a combination of these. Ask the business 
man, and he is likely to project the ideal of industrial 
and mercantile efficiency. The artisan is likely to 
think of vocational training, the minister of ethical 
and spiritual goals, the social worker of good citizen- 
ship. The philosopher will formulate the aim of edu- 
cation in terms of self -development or self-realization. 
To what is this variety of formulations of the aim of 
education due? The complexity of the educational 
process has something to do with it. People see edu- 
cation from so many diflferent angles, and they em- 
phasize different values according to their own pre- 
dominant interests or conceptions of life. Their stand- 
ards partake too much of the subjective element and 
conform too little to the ideal of objective function. 
The varying formulations of education, however. 



52 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

have considerable value. They are not so much untrue 
as they are partial and inadequate. They need to 
be harmonized and correlated with one another by 
reference to some more fundamental principle. Can 
we find such a principle ? 

The standard of function in education. 

Socrates found the standard of the good in the 
function that a thing is to perform. I believe that he 
was essentially right and that the Socratic principle 
is suggestive to us. In education we must raise this 
question of function and answer it before we can for- 
mulate the aim of education in objective terms. We 
must ask what part education plays in some larger 
whole of activity. It is precisely at this point that 
the current tendency of the mental and social sciences 
to adopt the biological point of view becomes sig- 
nificant for education. The Socratic method revealed 
quite readily the objective nature of the standards 
of the crafts ; it could not be applied so easily to the 
social sciences. On the basis of the contribution of 
biology we can solve more readily the question of the 
function of education and thus arrive at an objective 
standard for the educative process. 



THE MEANING AND AIM OF EDUCATION 53 

Formulation of the Aim of Education 

We are seeking the aim of education in some function 
which it performs in meeting the needs of Ufe. But 
conscious, or intentional, education is designed to aid 
the natural processes and bring them up to a higher 
level of efiiciency. It becomes necessary, therefore, 
to ask what are the processes involved in the attain- 
ment of adjustment at its higher levels and how may 
education direct and control these processes. 

Appreciation of values. 

(All processes of adjustment center in the meeting 
of needs. 1 This is what gives meaning to the movements 
of the amoeba, the growth of spines on the cactus, the 
instinctive responses of animals, and the voluntary 
acts of man. Wherever there is a need to be met, 
that which meets it may be called a value of life. The 
various plants and animals which serve the purpose 
of food are direct values of life. The knowledge, the 
tools, and the methods of agriculture through which 
supplies of food are maintained are indirect values of 
life. The story which the child enjoys is to him an 
immediate and direct value of life ; the knowledge 
of reading by means of which he can get the story for 
himself is an indirect value. When men are civilized, 
art, literature, science, and the ideals of the Christian 



54 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

religion, since they meet his higher needs, are either 
direct or indirect values to him. 

Needs may remain below the level of consciousness, 
or consciousness of them may never become explicit. 
The needs of plants all belong in this group. Children 
may need food or sleep and not know what they need ; 
they are just uncomfortable, restless, and nervous. 
Men may need refreshment of mind and spirit and not 
know what is the matter. In all these cases, if the 
things that would meet their needs were brought to 
them, there would be an appropriate response. How- 
ever, needs are likely to be met more effectively if we 
become conscious of them. The consciousness of need 
is likely to carry with it a tendency to focus more 
sharply on that which satisfies it and to deepen and 
intensify our appreciation of its worth. This apprecia- 
tion means a stronger grip on the feelings and thus 
becomes the drivewheel of the effort that must be 
put forth to meet our needs. Appreciation of value 
of some sort, of the worthwhileness of something to 
me, is the basis of motivation, and where there is strong 
motivation something is likely to be done. 

It is not educationally suflScient to have an intel- 
lectual consciousness of values, a knowledge of what 
is most worth while. In spite of knowledge, some 
people prefer the lower to the higher satisfactions. 
It is necessary for education to concern itself with the 



THE MEANING AND AIM OF EDUCATION 55 

problem of training pupils to appreciate the things of 
most worth. Education is a matter not only of ideas 
but also of ideals. What are the great outstanding 
ideals that ought to dominate life in a civilized society ? 
What are the things of proved worth .^ Somehow the 
school must find ways and means of making children 
conscious of their need of these and of making them 
glow with a warmth of feeling — of making sure that 
they are fused and welded with all the interests of the 
self in such a vital fashion that it is impossible to sur- 
render them, impossible even to live without a constant 
attempt to incorporate them into one's life. Pupils 
must be so taught that when they go out into the work 
of the world they will find their most genuine happi- 
ness in living in harmony with the highest ideals. 
Men become crooks, sharpers, criminals, and social 
parasites (idle rich and hobo poor) very often not 
because they do not know better but because they 
find enjoyment and satisfaction in the wrong things. 
Unfortunately the higher values do not appeal to them. 
To measure the worth of things in other terms than 
money is to many people, poor as well as rich, like 
speaking in an unknown tongue. In a world in which 
the material aspect of things stands out so prominently 
as it does in the present age, it becomes all the more 
important for the school to develop appreciation of 
the higher values of life. Otherwise the adjustment 



56 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

of the individual and of society is likely to be effected 
on the lower level of meeting needs, both self and society 
failing to attain the higher values which constitute 
the most precious heritage of the human race. 

Judgment of values. 

Effective adjustment depends not only upon con- 
sciousness of values but also upon the ability to de- 
termine which values are of most worth. There are 
hundreds of things that a farmer may raise that have 
some value; his problem is to grow those things that 
a careful study of conditions indicates are of most 
worth for him to undertake. Likewise there are 
thousands of things that a physician might learn that 
would have some value, but his success will depend 
on his grasp of a comparatively small number of sig- 
nificant things. We may eat candy because we like 
the taste of it, it has a value of pleasantness to the 
palate. But the real value of candy has to be judged 
in the light of its effect upon the entire organism. The 
more varied, numerous, and complex our needs, the 
more important for our welfare does it become that 
we pass right judgment on the value of things. Other- 
wise we are likely to sacrifice some higher and more 
comprehensive good for something that is immediately 
satisfying but of much less relative worth. 

In a world as complex as ours it is difiicult to learn 



THE MEANING AND AIM OF EDUCATION 57 

what things are of most worth. Here is found one 
of the central problems of education. Pupils must 
be trained in the processes and power of judging funda- 
mental values. They must come to know the meaning 
and significance of the ideals and institutions of our 
civilization. Their insight into values must go beyond 
the vocation that shall yield them a living. No man 
is equipped for life without some vocation, neither 
is he so equipped merely because he is trained for a 
vocation, no matter how expert he may become in it. 
He mv^y have very distorted ideas of personal respon- 
sibility and of the relation of his vocation to the good 
of society. It is a very deceptive half-truth that is 
sometimes flaunted in the face of the unthinking by 
popularity seekers when they say that "a man is edu- 
cated if he is on to his job." Life cannot be summed 
up in terms of one's job or of his capacity to make 
money. A man may be a skilled railway engineer, 
^'on to his job" every minute that he is on the train, 
and yet he may sell his vote on election day. Farmers 
sometimes raise big crops and make much money for 
a series of years only to destroy the fertility of the soil 
for the next man. A brilliant trial lawyer sometimes 
frees his client to the detriment of society. Even a 
thief may be so thoroughly "'on to his job " that he can 
be classed as an expert and professional. Probably 
the vast majority of the prisoners in our jails and pen- 



58 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

itentiaries are there not because they were driven to 
crime by lack of employment, but because at some point 
or other in life they failed to make the right judgment 
of values or were lacking in appreciation of them. 
The question of education is in large part one of train- 
ing pupils in right judgment of values. They must 
learn how to determine for themselves what things 
in life are really most worth while, if they are to play 
their part well in the modern world. 

Control of values. 

One may know aright the things in life that are of 
most worth, and in contemplation of them be suffused 
with a fine glow of feeling, and still be unable to in- 
corporate them into his own life. For example, he 
might know the worth of money and have a very keen, 
intelligent, and legitimate desire for it, and yet he 
might be master of no occupation through which he 
could secure a competence. But when one both 
knows and appreciates aright the values of life, the 
conditions are favorable for bringing them under his 
control, i.e., for realizing them in his own experience. 
But such incorporation of these higher values, which 
satisfy needs more adequately, does not follow of its 
own accord. Effort must be put forth. This effort 
may be of the random, hit-and-miss, trial-and-error 
sort; or it may be highly organized, skilled, and 



THE MEANING AND AIM OF EDUCATION 59 

adapted to its purpose. Here is where education aims 
to perform another service. It aids pupils to acquire 
whatever of knowledge, technique, skill, ingrained 
habit, mastery of mental and motor processes are 
necessary to secure for themselves and others those 
things which are of most worth in life. Through edu- 
cation they should be able to satisfy more freely and 
flexibly their needs at the level of moral, spiritual, 
civilized human beings. 

Summary. 

From the point of view of the individual concerned 
in the educative process, the aim of education might 
be formulated as follows : the function of education 
is to assist pupils in the attainment of right judgment, 
appreciation, and control of the values of life. 

The Social Point of View 

Adaptive behavior in man is attained through the 
coordination of different motor and mental processes 
into organized modes of procedure. To walk, the 
child has to bring the activities of the legs into relation 
to each other in a rhythmic series of movements and at 
the same time maintain control of certain muscular 
activities involved in balancing and in carrying the 
body forward. To pick up a plaything, he has to 
bring the activities of the eyes and of the hand into 



60 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

relations with one another in a task which requires 
their cooperation. To read a story, it is necessary 
for him to coordinate many motor and mental processes. 
In the meeting of our numerous needs we have to 
establish a great many modes of behavior representing 
a very large variety of motor and mental coordinations. 
But there are many needs of men that cannot be met 
at all, or that cannot be met well, except in cooperation 
with other people. The activities of all in the group 
must be coordinated into one organization of activity 
bearing on a common end. This means that there is 
such a thing as a social coordination of activity. This 
is well illustrated in the case of the rowing of a crew. 
The activities of no individual can be directed just as 
he pleases. The succession of strokes of all the rowers 
must be brought into the same rhythm — there must 
be the even and rightly timed forward sweep of all the 
oars and the uniform and measured pull of all the blades 
in the water. The mental processes of attention and of 
perception of the individuals may not wander at will 
but must be kept relevant to the common task. 

The existence of a social group of any sort, whether 
developed by natural selection in the course of social 
evolution or whether organized voluntarily and inten- 
tionally, presupposes certain common needs, aims, and 
purposes and also the coordination of the activities of 
all into modes of social behavior adapted to the accomp- 



THE MEANING AND AIM OF EDUCATION 61 

Hshment of the common purposes. In the family, the 
clan, the tribe, the state, the church, the school, the busi- 
ness corporation, the labor union, the social and liter- 
ary club, etc., we have such social coordinations of in- 
dividuals. The emergence of social groups is not only 
indicative of common needs but it is also the occasion 
for the appearance of new needs growing out of socially 
organized endeavor. The meeting of these needs re- 
quires specialization of activity within the group. 
The great mercantile corporation, for example, has its 
specialized activities of advertising, of buying and 
selling, of accounting, of distribution of profits, etc. 
The modern state has a bewildering complexity of 
specialized modes of behavior. When we think of our 
pupils as destined to live in a highly organized social 
order, we can see how inevitable it is that they will 
need the guidance and direction of intentional educa- 
tional procedure. We shall have to ask what the aim 
of education may be when conceived from this social 
point of view. 

Aim of Education from the Social Point of View 

If we call all of those things which contribute directly 
or indirectly to the satisfaction of human needs through 
social coordination of activity by the name of social 
values, then we can use the formulation of the aim of 
education already given, simply by inserting the word 



62 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIJ^E 

social before values and making it read as follows : It 
is the function of education to assist pupils in the attain- 
ment of right judgment, appreciation, and control of 
social values. 

Judgment of social values. 

It should be one of the tasks of the school to train 
children in the knowledge of what the interests of 
society are. The more complex the world in which we 
live the greater conflict there is likely to appear among 
the possible values from which we may make choice; 
hence the more necessary it becomes to be able to 
judge of relative worths. If children are growing up 
and are soon to play their part in the life of the social 
whole, they should be able to pass intelligent judgment 
upon the legitimate aims and purposes of society. 
Where individual whims, caprices, and subjective 
ideals prevail there is certain to be maladjustment and 
social disorder. Where tradition and the authority of 
the past dominate the judgment of social needs and 
social values, there progress is at an end. Social 
stability and progress can reach their highest level in 
harmony with each other only where intelligence is 
exercised on the part of all in the judgment of social 
values. 



THE MEANING AND AIM OF EDUCATION 63 

Appreciation of social values. - 

It is conceivable that there might be a very keen 
intellectual discrimination of social values and yet not 
an enthusiastic choice and espousal of the things that 
are of most worth to the social whole. Intelligence 
might be devoted to the satisfaction of low, mate- 
rialistic, and unworthy aims. It is necessary for educa- 
tion to develop a high appreciation of the supreme social 
ideals. Social ideals must come to grip the heart, to 
live in the feelings and aflfections of the individual. 
They must become an integral and dynamic part of the 
self, so that they press irresistibly for release in conduct. 
Many criminals and social renegades hnow perfectly 
well what are the supreme interests of society, but they 
don't care anything about them. They are perfectly 
willing to sacrifice the interests of others to the gratifi- 
cation of their own desires. Probably the school has 
not done as much as it ought to have done in this 
matter of making sure that the higher and more com- 
prehensive values appeal strongly to youth ; that they 
not only recognize them intellectually but also prize 
them. From the social point of view this is one of 
the most important functions of education. The 
school, however, is not wholly to blame for failure at 
this point. Society is so organized that its own 
activities focus rather sharply the attention of children 



64 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

upon individualistic and materialistic and selfish aims. 
The other institutions of society, as well as the school, 
must come to realize the importance of intensifying the 
appreciation of things that have the larger social signifi- 
cance. 

Social control. 

Social adjustment at the highest level of eflaciency 
involves well-developed control on the part of society 
over the satisfaction of social needs. This control is 
a complex process including several related phases. 
The meaning of the term and its varied applications 
must be made clear, if we are to understand the social 
aim of education. 

Meaning of social control, — Right judgment and right 
appreciation of social values are significant only as 
phases in the process of control of these values. Judg- 
ment is the basis of selection, appreciation the basis of 
effort to secure. Individuals who are to work together 
in a common coordination of activity must make like 
judgments and have common feelings, otherwise effort 
will not be focused alike. Intellect and feeling, we 
have seen, function in the determination of an efficient 
personal will; the same processes are essential in the 
attainment of a strong, intelligent, and efficient social 
will. Now education must not stop short of anything 
less than the formation of the social will. It must be 



THE MEANING AND AIM OF EDUCATION 65 

possible to control social behavior in such ways as will 
make it certain that social ideals will be realized, that 
social needs will be satisfied at the highest levels. 

In speaking here of social intelligence, social feeling, 
and social will, it is not necessary to assume anything 
mystical and mysterious like a social mind or society 
as a super-person. If we use the term social mind, it 
must be understood as a convenient term to apply to 
the fact of coordination of the mental processes of 
many dififerent people who are directing their activities 
toward common ends. The state is not a separate 
entity with a mind of its own, with aims, purposes, 
needs, etc., of its own. The interests of individuals, 
in the last analysis, are the ultimate interests; no 
others actually exist. But when individuals are or- 
ganized for cooperative endeavor, conditions are so 
changed that not every individual interest can be 
regarded as legitimate. That will be the highest 
type of society in which individuals have the trained 
intelligence to subordinate certain wishes and desires 
of their own to the institutions of society because they 
see in these institutions the necessary means of effective 
cooperation. These instruments of social betterment 
may, however, themselves be still further modified, 
shaped, and controlled so as to perform their functions 
better and to minister more effectively to the needs of 
all. Educationally this seems to be an important point 



66 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

to recognize at this time when we are attracted by the 
marked efficiency of the autocratic type of state. We 
must not sacrifice the principles of democracy by 
training our pupils to accept aims and purposes imposed 
upon them by a higher authority that is the sole judge 
of their validity and worth. We must not spell the 
state with a capital letter and conceive of it as an 
independent entity, a sort of super-person. There is 
and ought to be such a thing as social control, but it is 
a control that should be determined from within the 
group by means of agencies and instrumentalities of its 
own choosing for the sake of cooperative enterprise. 
Education must train the feeling, intellect, and will of 
individuals for this self-imposed cooperation with all 
in the interest of all. This is democratic social control. 
Socialization of individuals. — I shall discuss three 
aspects of social control with which education is con- 
cerned. They are as follows : the socialization of in- 
dividuals, the democratization of social institutions, 
and the control of social progress. The first of these 
problems is the question of how society controls in- 
dividuals and what part education has in this process. 
If our needs are to be met effectively through the social 
coordination of many people, it is evident that they 
must all have the disposition to put forth their efforts 
in common tasks. Primitive people secured this co- 
operative effort in a variety of ways ; but the study of 



THE MEANING AND AIM OF EDUCATION 67 

primitive life reveals two outstanding tendencies that 
grew up together. One of these was to modify the 
inner nature of the individuals concerned, the other to 
resort to compulsion. The first is formative, the second 
punitive. The formative method of socialization is 
illustrated by the influence upon the emotions of music, 
dancing, and the rites and ceremony of religion. Folk 
lore and hero worship made still further contributions 
to like-mindedness and common emotional attitudes. 
Customs grew up which were regarded with veneration, 
the most important of them gaining in course of time 
the sanction of law. But in addition to these formative 
influences upon the mind and heart there was frequent 
resort to physical force to compel the refractory and 
non-social to do their social "bit." Modern society 
seeks to eliminate or transform the punitive process 
and to rely upon education to socialize individuals 
through the transformation of their inner nature. Men 
who judge and appreciate their needs only and always 
in the light of the social whole of which they are a part 
are more efiicient in social cooperation than those who 
are compelled to conform to the social will. If educa- 
tion could do its perfect work, physical force could be 
eliminated from social method. In so far as there 
still exist anti-social and criminal people, to that 
extent education (of the school and of society) has 
failed or is inadequate. 



68 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

Democratization of social institutions, — The home, 
the school, the church, the state, the learned professions, 
the scientific pursuits, the organizations of labor, of 
trade, and of industry and commerce are all centers of 
accumulated and accumulating experience. The home 
has learned much in the matter of character develop- 
ment and the processes of informal education that 
ought to be made the common property of all for the 
benefit of all homes, all schools, and all churches in the 
conduct of their work. The school, the college, and 
the university have been too much centers merely 
for the development and preservation of useful knowl- 
edge, confining their work of propagation to the few 
and too narrowly to the young. They are beginning 
now to reach out and serve all the people. At the agri- 
cultural colleges, there is enough known about the 
scientific principles of agriculture and their applica- 
tion to the various practical aspects of farming to 
completely transform the processes of food production 
to the advantage of everybody. But this knowledge 
gets out from these centers altogether too slowly for 
society to get the full benefit of these institutions. 
Much is being done at the present time to democratize 
the agricultural college, however; it is bringing its 
services to the people in the remotest sections of the 
state through demonstration cars, exhibits, experiment 
stations, short courses during the winter months. 



THE MEANING AND AIM OF EDUCATION 69 

special bulletins, correspondence courses, traveling 
libraries, etc. At the medical colleges enough has 
already been learned of the laws of health and of disease 
to reduce preventable deaths to a small fraction of what 
they now are. The great problem is to democratize 
scientific medicine and make it serve the interests of 
the community more fully. Here, too, it must be 
said that much has already been accomplished through 
public boards of health and through the teaching of 
hygiene. The public library as a social institution has 
been democratized to a very marked degree. Books 
are no longer conceived as things that are to be stored 
away and protected from the ignorant public. They 
are not for the chosen few trained to their use. They 
are to be put into circulation as fully as possible. 
The librarians invent all sorts of methods of getting 
useful information before the attention of the various 
classes of people who will be benefited by it. They 
are ambitious to reach the largest number of people 
possible and to provide the kinds of books that are 
needed by any vocational or other group. The same 
point of view is coming to dominate the public school 
also. It is a place in which all the children of all the 
people are to be served as completely as possible. Still 
further, there is the growing demand for the wider use 
of the school plant for all the higher interests of the 
entire community. The state is being conceived more 



70 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

and more not as constrictive but as constructive, as 
permitted and required to do all that it can for the good 
of all the people. And the ideal of service is coming to 
pervade more and more even the money-making occupa- 
tions of business and industry. The church, the most 
vital center of all for the education of people in the 
fundamental ideals of righteousness, is getting away 
from its extreme emphasis on creed and individual 
morality and is preaching more fully the gospel of 
social righteousness as a democratic demand for the 
highest well-being of all people right here and now. 

It is certainly one of the most important social aims 
of education to train men and women to utilize to the 
full all the agencies and instrumentalities of society 
for the good of all. These institutions must be con- 
ceived in the years of school training not as ends in 
themselves but as means of social cooperation — means 
which defeat their legitimate purpose and do damage to 
all if they are subordinated to the interests of the few. 
Children must be trained to judge them aright, to 
appreciate them at their true worth, to use them for 
their proper purposes, and to insist that whatever 
values are to be derived from them are made known and 
accessible to all. We have far to go yet before all the 
institutions of cooperative endeavor are thoroughly 
democratized. It must be increasingly the aim of 
education to train social intelligence in this direction. 



THE MEANING AND AIM OF EDUCATION 71 

Control of Social Progress. — The most difficult phase 
of social control is that of the organization and direc- 
tion of the social processes themselves in the path of 
continuous progress. The institutions of society as 
well as their characteristic modes of procedure are 
mostly the result of a long period of growth and de- 
velopment characterized almost wholly by the method 
of trial-and-error or of natural selection and the sur- 
vival of the fittest. Progress under these conditions 
is more or less random and haphazard; yet it con- 
forms, as far as it does go, to certain natural princi- 
ples or social laws. Can we discover what these laws 
are and bring them under conscious control .^^ When 
this was done with physical forces an era of rapid in- 
dustrial progress was ushered in. If we could know 
and intentionally control social laws, we might make 
as radical reconstructions of society in the direction 
of a more efiicient and just social order in one century 
as have been made in the last twenty. Why should 
not social intelligence be trained and directed to the 
solution of the rapidly accumulating social problems 
which confront us ? In a sense of the word social con- 
trol resting upon the scientific understanding of the 
laws of social progress is a work for experts. In 
another sense, it is impossible except in a country of 
general enlightenment and of a highly socialized con- 
science on the part of all. If education could do its 



72 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

perfect work both in the training of the social conscience 
and in the training of the social experts, it would be 
possible to make over the social fabric so thoroughly 
that we should have that kingdom of ends which 
Kant considered the perfect moral order, a society 
in which every man is considered a center of unique 
worth, an end in himself, never the mere means to 
the realization of the end of another, and, I should 
like to add, never the mere means to the realization 
of the ends of Society itself personified as an Over- 
man. To put the same thought in other terms, it 
ought to be possible through the right performance 
of the function of education to help establish that 
Kingdom of God on earth of which the Hebrew proph- 
ets dreamed and which Jesus proclaimed had al- 
ready begun in him. Such a function education can 
never perform, however, if it is narrowly conceived 
as an intellectual or a vocational matter or both of 
these combined. It must be an education that em- 
phasizes ideal values, stimulates true social emotions, 
develops the social conscience in every man, and 
clarifies, enlarges, and trains his social intelligence. 

y'CORRELATIVITY OF INDIVIDUAL AND SoCIAL AlMS 

■ The individual and the social aims of education are 
correlative : each involves the other, and neither 
can be realized except in terms of the other. There 



THE MEANING AND AIM OF EDUCATION 73 

is no such thing as a mere individual human being. 
He may and does exist as a separate organism; but 
he is inevitably born into some sort of social medium. 
Outside of the social medium he cannot even live a 
satisfactory physical life ; and the needs of the higher 
life could not be met at all. We are integral parts of 
the social whole as inevitably as hand, eye, and heart 
are of the physical body. All individuals and all 
institutions are interrelated and interdependent; each 
contributes to (or detracts from) all, and all affect 
each. The more highly developed the civilization the 
more is this true. No man produces of things physical, 
mental, and spiritual all that he needs. He serves 
all in some one respect, and all serve him in others. 
In so far as education perfects individuals in any 
legitimate function, it increases the possibility of their 
larger contribution to the satisfaction of the needs 
of all: and, conversely, in so far as it furthers the 
realization of social aims, it renders the group more 
efficient in meeting the needs of every individual. 

We might put this in another form by saying that 
what we have called " values of life " and " social values " 
are correlative. Values of life, the things which satisfy 
the needs of individuals, become social values when 
viewed in the light of the larger whole. The individ- 
ual strong and well in body, trained and enriched in 
mind, perfected in motor skill, master of some definite 



74 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

useful vocation, his heart responsive to the best things 
in Ufe — this type of individual can contribute most 
to the cooperative aims and activities of the social 
group. Social values in their tui:n get their signifi- 
cance solely through their realization in the lives of 
individuals; for, as we have seen, there is no other 
place in which they can be realized. It represents, 
then, simply a difference of temporary interest or of 
point of view when we speak at one time of values 
of life and at another of social values. There is an or- 
ganic and dynamic relation between the two. Edu- 
cation must so develop and train the individual that 
by a law of his own life his interests harmonize with 
those of society, and that society brings to bear upon 
the life of every individual the highest and best fruits 
of civilization to such an extent that he is most fully 
stimulated, vitalized, and enriched with the wealth of 
racial experience. 

Realization of the Aim of Education 
The aim must be realized in the present life of the pupil. 

If an aim is to have any value, it must be capable 
of application in the guidance of the educative pro- 
cess at the point of need. That is always to be found 
in the present developing experience of the pupil. 
"The present moment of child life stands out as the 



THE MEANING AND AIM OF EDUCATION 75 

dynamic center on which all future development 
depends." The pupil is living now, the problems of 
adjustment must be met as they arise. Education 
is for the present, not merely for the future. This 
is one of the most significant outcomes of the biolog- 
ical point of view. We must help the pupil in some 
way by everything that we do in school to meet an 
actual need. The aims of better judgment of values, 
right appreciation of the things that are of most worth, 
and larger and more effective control of individual and 
social values must be applied to each day's experience. 
We must ask whether we are selecting subject matter 
and employing methods of procedure that realize 
these aims in the present stage of the experience of 
our classes. 

We must diagnose every teaching situation with 
these principles in mind. Suppose it is the case of 
utilizing play. WTiat needs are there in the lives 
of these children for play.^ Exactly what will it 
do for their bodies, minds, social natures.^ What 
plays, games, or sports minister best to the particular 
needs which I find in the lives of these children ? Can 
I so utilize the play impulse as to confront them with 
situations in which they will be obliged now to improve 
in their judgment of values, in their appreciation of 
cooperation, fair play, etc., and in their actual in- 
corporation of the values of health and the social 



76 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

virtues into their lives ? If it is a matter of the teach- 
ing of arithmetic, I must hkewise raise the question 
of the needs in the unfolding experience of the class 
for the further facts or exercises of the subject. Am 
I sure that the right time has come, that the condi- 
tions are right for the lesson on linear measure ? Will 
it help the pupils to accomplish better some project 
of construction or of business ? Has the curiosity and 
the intellectual interest in some problem made this 
additional instruction necessary and vital now? In 
reading and literature, we have to ask whether the 
beautiful story or poem or drama is fitted to waken 
now some response of feeling that enriches the pupil's 
life of legitimate pleasure, or whether it may stimulate 
within his experience some ideal of character that will 
operate now to modify his life. The lesson in Latin 
does not have its value solely in the fact that it helps 
the pupil to learn more Latin. Why should he learn 
any Latin? Is it playing a part in his unfolding 
language experience? Does it have any technical or 
humanistic significance to the pupil at this stage of 
his development? What are the values, and am I 
getting any of them as I go along? Would all that 
he has done be in vain if he stopped to-day ? In geog- 
raphy, history, algebra, and other subjects of the 
curriculum, I must raise the question continually of 
the extent to which my pupils are realizing the aim 



THE MEANING AND AIM OF EDUCATION 77 

of education now. Their lives must be enriched in 
some definable way by the lessons they are studying. 
If we could get this point of view thoroughly lodged in 
the consciousness of teachers, it would mean a radical 
reconstruction in the direction of more definite, specific, 
and vital teaching. 

Social reference of the aim of education. 

There is not only a present goal of education but 
also a remote goal which the teacher must keep in 
mind. The present tendencies, interests, and needs 
of the pupil get their meaning in large part from their 
future reference. They have to be judged in part 
by what they lead to. To pass this judgment upon 
them we have to know quite accurately the nature 
of the world in which our pupils will live, as well as 
knowing what satisfies their unfolding experience now. 
We know that they can never live completely except 
in full, free, and flexible relations to the social whole 
of which they are a part. This social whole includes 
not only other people living at the same time, but 
also an incalculable wealth of racial achievement 
incorporated in social institutions, social ideals, and 
the social products of art, literature, science, and re- 
ligion. The social environment in which the pupil is 
to live is the repository of all the higher social values. 
The task of education is to get the child ready for life 



78 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

in this world of civilization. If we can determine the 
things that are of most worth in the modern world, 
that helps to define the remote goal of education. 
Two points determine a straight line. In education one 
of these is the present needs of the child, the other is 
the needs of life in the modern world. 

The educational aims which we strive to realize day by 
day must represent values in the life of the modern 
world. We are not to give the right of way to subjects 
or to parts of subjects, to special skills, to habits, ideals, 
attitudes, virtues, or to elements of the technique of 
science, art, or vocation on the basis of tradition or 
authority. From this point of view, the application of 
the standard to our daily work of instruction requires, in 
addition to the questions calculated to focus attention on 
values for the present life of the pupil, also many ques- 
tions as to the further significance of the satisfaction of 
present needs. Which of the moving tendencies and 
interests of children have forward social reference? 
What is the subject matter that will contribute to 
this further development? Are the lessons which we 
are giving in reading, history, geography, Latin, science, 
etc., doing anything to arouse and define the conscious- 
ness of further social needs ? Are the pupils under our 
instruction being equipped by what we teach them in 
any nameable and specific respects for life in the modern 
world? Is their judgment of social values being de- 



THE MEANING AND AIM OF EDUCATION 79 

veloped and trained? Are they coming to appreciate 
and enjoy the things that are of most social signifi- 
cance? Are they coming into control of new social 
values or getting more secure control of older ones? 
In so far as we try to answer such questions as these 
with reference to every lesson we teach, our conscious- 
ness of the aim of education has value for us in the 
guidance and direction of our teaching activity. 

Summary 

It is not possible to give adequate guidance to the learning 
processes of children unless we know what is their normal and legit- 
imate goal. Aims of education should not be accepted on the 
basis of their subjective appeal; objective standards must be 
found. The biological point of view furnishes the standard of 
function, or that of meeting the needs of life. This standard is 
objective, based on the study of the actual lives of individuals and 
the nature of human society. To meet human needs most ade- 
quately, we have seen that men must be able rightly to judge, 
appreciate, and control individual and social values. It is the 
aim of conscious education to facilitate the learning processes of 
pupils to this end. 

There is no necessary conflict between individual and social 
aims of education. The needs of human beings can be met fully 
only in association and cooperation with others in ways that are 
advantageous to all. Such cooperation is effective only where 
individuals are intelligently socialized. Social control is involved 
in the aim of education, but not social control imposed from above 
by an autocratic ruler or class or super-personal state. The social 
control we want is that which comes from within the group and 
has its basis in the inner consent of all and their intelligent cooper- 



80 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

ation in ends chosen by them and by means selected or approved 
by them. Social control has its justification only in the fact that 
needs of life are met better through it. Such social control is 
possible only where there is universal public education and all 
the social institutions — home, school, college, church, str te, 
libraries, professions, industries, and vocations are democratized. 
While there is forward reference in the aim of education looking 
to right adjustment to natural and social environment in adult 
life, nevertheless the working aim of the teacher and the school 
must be something that can be realized day by day in the present 
life of the pupil and the satisfaction of its needs. There is no neces- 
sary conflict between the process of meeting the legitimate present 
needs of life and the larger and more remote social goal. The 
meeting of present needs may be a process which in itself has a 
larger outreach and a forward impulse. 

Supplementary Readings 

Bagley, William C, Educational Values, Chs. 7-15. 

Bagley, William C, Educative Process, Chs. 1-3, 13-15. ^ 

Bolton, F. E., Principles of Education, Ch. 2. 

Butler, Nicholas M., Meaning of Education, Ch. 1. 

Charters, W. W., Methods of Teaching, Ch. 1. 

CoE, George A., Education in Religion and Morals, Part 1, Chs. 1-11. 

Dewey, John, Democracy and Education, Chs. 8, 9. 

Hanus, Paul H., Educational Aims and Values, Ch. 1. 

Henderson, E. N., Principles of Education, Ch. 1. 

HoRNE, H. H., Philosophy of Education, Chs. 4, 5. 

O'Shea, M. v., Education as Adjustment, Chs. 4-8. 

RuEDiGER, William C, Principles of Education, Chs. 3-6. 

Strayer and Norsworthy, How to Teach, Ch. 1. 

Strayer, George D., Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Ch. 1. 

Swift, Edgar J., Mind in the Making, Ch. 10. 

Thorndike, E. L., Education, A First Book, Chs. 1-4. 



CHAPTER III 
THE CHILD 

What is the place of the child in the educative process? 
What light is thrown on this problem by the scientific 
conception of the meaning of infancy? What is meant 
by stages of development, and what are the significant 
stages of development in the life of the school child? By 
what fundamental principles shall we interpret transitions 
in growth and development? What are the outstanding 
characteristics of each transition stage ? What are its needs ? 
What are the principles in accordance with which instruction 
may be given best to meet the needs of each age ? 

The Place of the Child in the Educative Process 
The modern emphasis on the child. 

Positive value of childhood, — If it is the function 
of education to meet the needs of life at the time when 
these needs occur, then we are committed to the idea 
that childhood has a worth of its own. No other 
interpretation harmonizes with the biological point 
of view. But it is not until comparatively recent 
times that childh^ ^en generally conceived as 

having real signifii : has been looked upon as 



82 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

a period of life that had to be tolerated for the sake 
of what would come out of it. It had its interesting 
phases, of course, for those adults who were so for- 
tunate as to be parents; but for the children them- 
selves it was something to be outgrown as soon as 
possible. To this end, adult ideals, standards, manners, 
and methods of procedure were to be imposed upon 
the life of the child and fixed there as rapidly as possible. 
Children were to live as little men and women. Those 
who did so were good, others bad. Occasionally there 
appeared a genius of rare insight who looked more 
deeply into the soul of the little child and understood. 
He stood in reverence before the spirit of youth and 
appreciated childhood as something of infinite worth. 
Plato thought it not beneath the dignity of his phil- 
osophic pretensions to concern himself about the 
plays, games, and songs of children. In the life of 
Jesus, when adult interests clamored for his exclusive 
attention he deliberately turned aside from them to 
give recognition to children and to appreciate their 
worth, saying, ''Suffer the little children to come unto 
me and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom 
of heaven." Rousseau saw in the original nature of 
the child something supremely good, in comparison 
with which adult nature was foully corrupt. Pesta- 
lozzi and Froebel cast aside the adult standards and 
ideals of the function of the teacher as master and 



THE CHILD 83 

deigned to live with little children and share their 
experience. The child's life seemed to them worth 
while for its own sake ; it did not derive its legitimacy 
and its worth wholly from the fact that it was a stage 
on the way to the lordly estate of the adult. 

Conflict between educational theory and social prac- 
tice. — The modern child study movement which grew 
out of the work of Rousseau, Pestalozzi, and Froebel 
has focused attention sharply on the child, his nature 
and needs. Education is becoming more and more 
thoroughly committed to the idea that its function 
is to minister to the growing needs of children rather 
than to compel them to learn bodies of fact selected 
for them wholly from the adult point of view. But 
the old ideas of the superior and dominating interests 
of the adult are so thoroughly intrenched in society 
that the newer regard for childhood still has to struggle 
for recognition. This is essentially an adult world, 
ordered and arranged by adults for their own ends 
and purposes. This is well seen in the use that is 
made of property. With the settling of the country 
more fully and with the growth of cities, the natural 
play places of children vanish in the interest of money- 
making. Field, forest, and stream no longer invite; 
for they are appropriated to adult activities. From 
fishing, gathering wild flowers, hunting for berries and 
nuts the children are warned by signs of ''No tres- 



84 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

passing." Vacant lots in the cities are gradually 
closed in by the new buildings which our adult interests 
in trade, manufacture, and commerce demand. Where 
they still exist, children must not play for fear of some 
damage to neighboring property or some noise that 
will disturb the adults who have forgotten their own 
childhood. Streets, now appropriated more and more 
fully by the traffic of adult business and pleasure, have 
become more dangerous for children than railway 
tracks. Even the dwelling places of man are built 
for adult convenience and interests and often cannot 
be rented by families having children. With play 
excluded from its natural haunts, the play instincts 
and the natural craving for pleasure, as Jane Addams 
has shown,^ have been commercialized by adults and 
made to contribute to the adult passion for dividends. 
Thus have we added insult to injury — children robbed 
of their birthright are made to pay a price for an in- 
ferior substitute. 

Growing social recognition of the needs of children, — 
Fortunately we are partially awaking from our neglect 
and lethargy, and there is a growing tendency to make 
more liberal provision for the rights of children. Parks 
are becoming something more than elaborate orna- 
ments ; they are being used as places for play and for 
nature study. Small playgrounds, well equipped and 

1 " The Spirit of Youth and the City Streets." 



THE CHILD 85 

supervised, are increasing rapidly in number. Churches 
are taking more and more responsibility for the pro- 
vision of recreation and pleasure. Schools are re- 
constructing their work on the principle that the 
schoolroom is a place in which children are really 
and truly to live. Legislation is beginning to curb 
the mercenary tendencies of employers and parents 
to utilize child life as a means of gain. Everywhere 
the child is coming to be regarded as having positive 
worth, and the period of childhood is to be conserved 
both for its own sake and for the sake of the larger 
social significance of a prolonged period of infancy. 

The child and the curriculum. 

In the old education the curriculum was the center 
of the educative process. Everything else revolved 
around it, even the child. Subject matter of education 
was determined wholly from the adult point of view. 
The only concession that was made to child nature 
was to its inferior powers of learning. Subject matter 
had to be simplified and administered in small doses ; 
but it was not selected with reference to the child's 
own nature and needs. If the child did not like what 
he studied so much the worse for him. That was only 
another evidence of the total depravity of original 
nature. The very fact that the subject matter was 
disagreeable was a guarantee of its superior disciplinary 



86 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

value; its excellence consisted in the very fact that 
it did clash with original nature, and its mastery 
represented a step forward in the triumph over in- 
herently evil tendencies and marked some progress 
toward the virtue of the adult. Under these condi- 
tions both school and home discipline was bound to 
be severe; there was plentiful use of the rod and the 
ferule. The adult authority and the adult subject 
matter were supreme, the representatives of virtue 
triumphant over original nature. And so children 
dragged their unwilling feet to the ''little old red school- 
house," and when they got there they droned over 
their tasks and took every opportunity to make all 
the trouble for the teacher that they dared to. 

With the new ideas of child nature popularized by 
Rousseau and practiced by Pestalozzi and Froebel, 
the center of educational thought and practice grad- 
ually shifted from the curriculum to the child. Every- 
thing revolved around the pupil. The dominant 
questions became, What is his nature? What are 
his instincts .f* What are his interests? The watch- 
words were freedom, self-activity, initiative, spon- 
taneity, unfoldment, hands-off^ nature knows best, 
follow nature, unfoldment from within, etc. There 
can be no doubt that this represented a very whole- 
some reaction from that point of view which conceived 
of children as little men and women and which sub- 



THE CHILD 87 

jected them to the authority and demands of adult 
ideals and adult subject matter. But the reaction 
often went too far. There is no guarantee that in 
following the natural tendencies of childhood adjust- 
ment to the life of the modern world will be secured. 
Man in order to become man has had to rise above 
instinct. The life tendencies that account most in 
the modern world may have their tap-roots back in 
instincts somewhere, but they have their fine roots 
in civilization, which has meant radical reconstruction, 
transformation, and sublimation of instincts. 

The educative process cannot be defined in terms of 
a circle. Neither the child nor the curriculum can 
be made the center about which all thought and prac- 
tice are to revolve. The original nature of man and 
the social values inherent in civilization are both in- 
volved at every point and throughout every stage 
of the educative process. Education is a process of 
continuous interaction between child and curriculum. 
Experience is the continuum in which the two stand 
in a polar relation to each other. The child is not a 
fixed thing — his original nature is to be reconstructed 
and developed until it harmonizes with civilized and 
Christianized human nature. The curriculum is not 
a fixed thing to be imposed upon the pupil — the sub- 
ject matter has to be selected continually with reference 
to meeting the needs of the pupil while at the same 



88 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

time reflecting the higher aims, purposes, and interests 
of civiKzed humanity. There is not one center about 
which everything educationally revolves, but rather 
two foci. If we are to use any figure of speech, let it 
be that of the ellipse rather than that of the circle. 
Only the figure of speech must not represent static 
relationships, but dynamic. The two foci, child and 
curriculum, must not represent two distinct and ab- 
solutely unrelated points, but rather at the same time 
centers of mutual tension and also the pivots about 
which everything else swings. To think thus of edu- 
cation will enable us to avoid many of the fallacies 
common to undue concentration of attention upon either 
the child or the subject matter. The two must be 
kept related in thought in all our discussion of problems 
of method, aims, purposes, class management, and 
school equipment. Even the choice of school desks 
should take account of the nature of the pupil and also 
of what he is to be taught. 

The meaning of infancy. 

The first scientific formulation of the meaning of 
infancy was made by John Fiske.^ In his studies of 
evolution his attention was attracted by an interesft- 
ing parallelism. As you ascend the scale of animal 

* His discussion has been put into convenient form in one of the Riverside 
Educational Monographs, entitled "The Meaning of Infancy.'* 



THE CHILD 89 

life from the lowest to the highest forms there appears 
a gradual prolongation of infancy relative to the entire 
span of life. Now this same ascent is marked by in- 
creasing intelligence. Thus man, who has the longest 
relative infancy, has also the highest measure of intel- 
ligence. Is this a merely accidental parallelism be- 
tween the prolongation of infancy and increasing in- 
telligence? Or is there some necessary connection 
between the two ? Fiske assumes that there is a neces- 
sary connection, that prolongation of infancy in the 
evolution of species is responsible for the evolution of 
intelligence. The plasticity of infancy gave the higher 
animals the chance, under the protection of their 
parents, to adjust themselves to the environment in 
the light of their own experience. Any spark of in- 
telligence that appeared could be utilized and become 
a factor in the survival of those who exercised it. 
Hence, by a law of natural selection, intelligence was 
favored in the evolution of the higher species. Social 
and ethical evolution, according to Fiske, were also 
bound up with the gradual prolongation of infancy. 
It can readily be seen that where the young are help- 
less and dependent for a long time, the mother becomes 
firmly bound to the young, and there is a tendency 
for the father to become necessary to the protection 
and support of mother and children. Thus the family 
tie becomes fixed. This broadens out into the wider 



90 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

blood ties of the tribe and the elan, out of which have 
sprung the characteristic institutions of government. 
Furthermore, it is in the bosom of the family that the 
great fundamental human virtues are cradled. The 
courage of the father and the industry of the mother 
are put to the test. The helplessness of the infant 
calls forth sympathy and protective care. Loyalty 
and chivalry come to have a real value and significance 
in the life of men. Patriotism is an extension of family 
loyalty to the larger social group. 

Infancy and educability. 

Mr. Fiske's discussion of the meaning of infancy 
leaves in the minds of some the impression that the 
prolongation of infancy is the cause of the higher in- 
telligence of man. It would be more correct to think 
of the plasticity of infancy as a condition favorable 
to the exercise of intelligence. It removes the limi- 
tations of fixed hereditary modes of behavior and 
makes possible wider variation of activity. Conse- 
quently more can be learned in experience and better 
adjustment can be made to the actual conditions of 
life. Animals among whom larger brain development 
accompanied the prolongation of infancy would have 
an advantage in the struggle for existence, hence, in 
the evolution of the higher animals a premium is put 
on the evolution and use of intelligence. In the life 



THE CHILD 91 

of the individual, the plasticity of Infancy lies at the 
basis of educability. The human being is educable 
in a sense of the word that does not apply to the lower 
animals, and he is educable for a longer period of time. 
The plasticity of infancy is related to education in a 
twofold way, contributing both to the conservative 
and to the progressive function of education. 

The conservative function of infancy, — Progress Is 
conditioned by the possibility of maintaining the 
results of achievement. Our civilization rests back 
upon the achievements of thousands of generations. 
What one generation learns Is, or may be, passed on 
to the next generation. This is not true of the lower 
animals. If the robins learn anything In their own 
lives, little, if anything, Is passed on. Each generation 
of robins starts at the beginning instead of where the 
previous generation left off. The larger plasticity of 
human beings and the prolongation of the period of 
their learning makes possible the assimilation by one 
generation of the achievements of their elders. This 
Is of great advantage to them. They can enter upon 
the period of independent adult life at a higher level 
of adjustment to their environment. Because they 
have Incorporated Into their own lives the experience 
of the race, they make fewer mistakes and a much larger 
number of Individuals are conserved, fewer being lost in 
the struggle for existence. For society also the pro- 



92 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

longation of infancy has a conservative value. The 
plasticity of the young makes it possible for them to 
adopt, adapt, and maintain whatever society has 
achieved that is worth their while. Thus social values 
of all sorts are passed on and conserved from one age 
to another, and the level of civilization is maintained. 
The "progressive function of infancy, — Plasticity is at 
the basis of spontaneity, originality, and initiative. 
Plastic individuals do not have to follow in the groove 
of instinct and are not tied down to natural or even 
social heredity. Through variation of responses and 
through experimentation, new and more advantageous 
methods of procedure are discovered. Men recon- 
struct and control the environment in meeting their 
needs. Improvement, or progress, occurs during the 
lifetime of the individual. Society as a whole profits 
by the innovations of individuals. In so far as they 
meet needs, they are adopted by others. Social prog- 
ress results, and each new generation may surpass the 
former. 

The value of social prolongation of infancy through school- 
ing. 

The period of infancy, in the scientific sense of the 
word, lasts through the entire period of growth. In 
our ordinary conceptions, this means with boys until 
the age of twenty-one and with girls until eighteen. 



THE CHILD 93 

As a matter of fact, growth is not complete for several 
years later. In the actual practice among primitive 
people, however, the young are thrown fully upon their 
own resources at the age of twelve or fourteen. Under 
simple conditions of life, this is possible. But it is 
hardly possible under modern social conditions for 
children to become independent at such an early age. 
The period of helplessness and dependence has been 
prolonged in the evolution of modern society. Those 
who are to follow skilled trades and the learned pro- 
fessions cannot become socially independent until some 
time between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five. 
And in the unskilled trades, there is very little demand 
for boys under sixteen except in what are known as the 
"blind alley" jobs. If the longer period of human in- 
fancy is a significant factor in the superior intelligence 
and the higher adjustment of man as compared with 
the rest of the animals, it ought to follow that the 
fuller use of the period of dependence for educative 
purposes is in the interest of the race. In a sense of 
the word, those who are thrown upon their own re- 
sources at fourteen, as compared with those whose 
plasticity is utilized for educative purposes until they 
are eighteen, are likely to be arrested in their develop- 
ment. Is it right to run the risk of arrested develop- 
ment in the case of any individual ? Can society afford 
to permit this arrest of development for the sake of the 



94 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

added gain in the number of years of productive labor ? 
Is not this gain in the number of years of productive labor 
at the expense of higher achievement and a higher type 
of life? If it is true that distinctively human traits 
which have made for civilization are developing most 
rapidly in the adolescent period, then the high school 
and college period of education contributes most 
fully to the development of the social, moral, and 
religious qualities that are most significant for mankind. 
Society cannot afford to sacrifice these plastic years 
for purposes of gain. Too early specialization may 
result in permanent arrest at a lower level when a 
higher level was possible. We cannot afford arrested 
development in the moral, social, and religious nature. 
It is fortunate that the trend of education is more and 
more in the direction of a longer period of schooling 
for all, a more complete utilization of the period of 
plasticity for the higher interests of the individual and 
of society. 

Stages of Development 

One of the most striking contributions of modern 
scientific child study has been to destroy utterly the 
tendency to think of children as miniature adults. 
That they are radically different from adults qualita- 
tively as well as quantitatively has been completely 
demonstrated. It is not our purpose here to go into 



THE CHILD 95 

all the scientific details. One illustration will serve 
to make the point stand out. If the baby could 
grow up to maturity and still maintain the same pro- 
portions of parts, his head would be twice the normal 
size, his body would be longer than that of the normal 
adult and characterized by a large and protruding 
abdomen, and his legs would be so short as to give a 
toddling effect which in an adult would be ludicrous. 
For one such adult specimen a good circus manager 
would be willing to pay a fortune. Just as striking 
variations from the adult norm are to be found in the 
chemical composition of the bones and of the blood 
and the relative sizes of the vital organs. The mental 
and moral life of the child also is just as little that 
of the adult smalled down. 

While the child is radically different from the adult, 
it must also be remembered that he grows continuously 
toward maturity ; there is no sharp break in the transi- 
tion at any point. For our convenience in under- 
standing children of different ages, we divide the entire 
period of growth and development into stages, marking 
them off from one another by the most striking out- 
standing physical and mental changes that are taking 
place. By different specialists these stages have been 
given different names. In view of the fact that the 
terminology is so varied, while the periods correspond 
roughly to certain well -recognized pedagogical divisions. 



96 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

I shall use in this discussion the pedagogical divisions 
in the hope that all readers may be able to follow the 
main points with equal ease regardless of any preceding 
terminology with which they may be familiar. Thus we 
may speak of the following stages of development : the 
pre-school age, the kindergarten-primary age, the 
period of the middle grades, the high school age. 

Fundamental principles of interpretation. 

In studying the characteristics of the diflFerent stages 
of development, we need some general principle of 
interpretation. Otherwise we shall be tempted to pile 
up an indiscriminate mass of interesting facts without 
being able to see what may be their significance. The 
best way to judge of the value and the meaning of the 
facts and phenomena of child life is to keep in mind the 
principle of function. We must gather and interpret 
our data with reference to their bearing on the problem 
of growing individual control and the progress of social 
adjustment, — In connection with this central problem, 
we need to understand particularly two fundamental 
laws of the child's psycho-motor life: the law of diffu- 
sion and the law of the motor flow of consciousness. 

The law of diffusion. — The structure and interrela- 
tionship of neurons, or nerve cells, is such that theoret- 
ically it is possible for a nervous impulse originating 
in a stimulus at any point in the organism to spread 



THE CHILD 97 

everywhere, reaching all the muscles and glands of the 
body. Experiments in the psychological laboratory 
confirm this inference. But complete or equal diffusion 
is rare. The tendency is checked by the existence of 
preferred pathways of discharge of nervous impulses 
that have been determined by heredity or by habit. 
Connections of neurons are established in advance for 
reflex and instinctive acts, and we organize in the 
course of experience other modes of behavior called 
habitual. But with the child the hereditary tendencies 
to action are less specific than in the case of the other 
animals, and he does less on the basis of habit than in 
the case of the grown man. The original tendency to 
diffusion is very strong with little children. They are 
very markedly subject to the tendency to multiple 
response. The baby attracted by a bright or moving 
object does not merely reach for it, but wiggles all 
over. The child struggling to write for the first time, 
and for a considerable time afterward, tends not only 
to make the relevant and irrelevant hand movements 
but also to twist and turn with the body, to swing the 
legs, to screw up the mouth, and to squint with the 
eyes. All his activity has a larger variability, random- 
ness, and spontaneity than that of the adult. 

The law of motor flow of consciousness, — All the 
sensations, percepts, and images of the little child are 
markedly subject to the law of motor flow. It has 



98 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

been experimentally demonstrated that in adult life 
all consciousness is motor, that every movement of 
consciousness, from the lowest sensory level to the 
highest thought level and from the simplest experience 
of feeling to the strongest of emotions, drains out into 
motor channels that affect external behavior or inner 
bodily processes such as the beating of the heart, 
breathing, and the secretion of the glands. But, in 
the case of adults many of the motor processes, partic- 
ularly those relating to overt action, are held in check 
by competing or countervailing ideational tendencies. 
With the little child the various types of inhibitions, of 
checks and restraints, have not been developed. 
Hence, his conscious processes follow more completely 
the law of motor flow. He twists and turns and jiggles 
upon the slightest stimulus, suggestion, or idea. He 
won't stand still while he is being dressed, or even while 
you are putting on his hat or his mitten. Something 
attracts his attention or some idea occurs to him and at 
once he starts without waiting for you to finish what 
you are doing for him or saying to him. He is not to 
blame for this, however annoying it may be; he is 
simply made that way, and would be abnormal if he 
could exercise the control of an adult. Motor and 
mental control are things that have to be acquired. 
Education must understand the process of their growth 
and be able to assist children to acquire the power of 



THE CHILD 99 

concentration upon ends and to attain the orderly- 
control of motor and mental processes which are 
essential to their efficient achievement. 

The Pre-School Age 

This is a period of beginnings. The child is largely 
concerned with the mastery of the fundamental physical 
coordinations and the control of the primary sense- 
perception process. The larger muscular coordinations 
are brought under control, including those of creeping 
and walking, of reaching and grasping, and of talking. 

Objects have a twofold interest to the little child; 
they are of interest to him as centers of physical re- 
action and as the sources of new sensations. Upon 
them he can exercise his growing powers of physical 
activity and manipulation. They are things to be 
pushed, pulled, and thrown. But these activities 
have at the first very little of definite aim; they are 
indulged in for the sake of the pleasurable exercise of 
his growing power of control. Objects have also an 
immediate value as the instruments through which in- 
teresting new sensations are secured. They are manip- 
ulated largely for the enjoyment of the tactual, 
visual, auditory, and muscular sensations which they 
yield. Paper is torn not only for the sake of the 
pleasure of manipulation but also for the noise which it 
makes; in like manner the rattle, clash, and bang of 



100 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

dishes thrown to the floor is satisfying. Things are 
put into the mouth not only in response to the instinct 
to eat but also to get the new and interesting touch 
sensations, and a lot of the fooling with things which 
children get into their hands has its motive in the 
pleasure of the new sensory experiences. A large part 
of the play of little children finds its impetus and its 
satisfaction in the joy in physical activity for its own 
sake and in the natural love of new sensations. 

But, in spite of the large tendency to diffusion of 
nervous energy and the large sway of the law of motor 
flow of consciousness, it must not be forgotten that even 
little children manifest considerable persistence and con- 
centration upon that which rests back strongly upon 
an instinctive basis and which carries large satisfaction. 
And it is as unfair to them to interrupt their activities 
abruptly and arbitrarily as it is for some one to do the 
same thing with you. 

Through his varied activities, even the little child is 
getting the meaning of the familiar things of his environ- 
ment, including persons, and is learning how to respond 
to them advantageously. But the mental life of the 
child in this period goes beyond the sense-perception 
level. Out of the background of the rich and full 
sensori-motor experience, the function of imagination 
begins to appear and becomes especially significant in 
the next period. Also many of the simple elements of 



THE CHILD 101 

social adjustment, particularly in the home circle, 
are brought under control before the age of entering 
school. 

The Kindergarten-Primary Age 

The kindergarten-primary period includes the two 
kindergarten years and the first two or three grades. 
It corresponds roughly to the period in child life from 
four years of age to seven or eight. While the primary 
child is more mature than the kindergarten tot, 
nevertheless the changes that are taking place in the 
younger child do not culminate until well into the pri- 
mary period. For this reason it is better to think of 
this span of four or five years as one period, rather 
than as two. There would be a great gain in clear- 
ness of interpretation, continuity of instruction, and 
educational efficiency if the kindergarten and the pri- 
mary grades could be organized into one administra- 
tive and supervisory group. 

Outstanding characteristics. 

For the sake of clearness, it is necessary in a brief 
account to focus attention rather sharply on a few 
outstanding characteristics. The whole period is one 
of very significant transitions in development. What 
is said about the characteristics of the period draws 
attention primarily to something that is at or near its 



102 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

height, and it must be corrected by thinking of develop- 
ment as more or less continuous. 

Physical development. 

In this period the child comes into rather free and 
flexible control of the larger, simpler, and more funda- 
mental muscular coordinations which he used clumsily 
and crudely in the earlier period. He perfects himself 
in reaching and grasping, in walking and running, and 
in the control of his vocal organs. At the same time 
he has to acquire control of the finer, more complex, 
and skilled muscular activities. At the beginning of 
the period he has a good deal of difficulty with such 
processes as buttoning his clothes, lacing and tying his 
shoes, putting on his mittens and rubbers, and in many 
of the rhythmic exercises in marching and dancing. His 
use of the pencil and brush results in the crudest of 
scrawls. Cutting with scissors is a difficult problem 
of manipulation. In all constructive work he fumbles 
and blunders and is lacking in accuracy. His activities 
are highly spontaneous. The law of multiple response 
to stimuli prevails, and there is much of trial and error 
in his methods of procedure. While he makes progress 
during this period in the control of the finer and more 
finished muscular activities that lie at the basis of skill, 
it will be remembered that the whole period is one of 
great plasticity and we must not force the transition to 



THE CHILD 103 

highly skilled activities too rapidly. There is bound to 
be much of crudity in the muscular control of little 
children at the end of the second or third grade. 

Mental development. 

The most marked mental characteristic of this period 
is the rapid development of the imagination. This is 
not a separate line of development; it goes hand in 
hand with the more active sensory and motor life. 
Wider associations of objects and their uses are built 
up, and the signijScance of things is more clearly seen. 
The mind is capable of reading more meaning into 
what is seen, heard, and felt. The whole mental life 
is enriched and expanded. The activity of imagina- 
tion grows out of this enriched experience and in turn 
plays back upon it and illuminates it. This is the 
golden era of the child's spontaneous imagination. 
It transforms everything that he does. His curiosity 
is quickened through the outreach of the mind for the 
wider relationships of things. It is transformed from 
the sensory level to the ideational stage. This is re- 
flected in the eager questioning of the child, which goes 
beyond what is given to the senses and wants to know 
what is coming next ? what is this for ? where are you 
going ? what for ? and a host of other things the answers 
to which are not apparent to the senses. Imitation is 
transformed from the physiological and sensori-motor 



104 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

type to the dramatic form. Ideas which appeal are 
carried out into action. The activities of the environ- 
ment are suggestive, they stimulate images, and these 
images are reproduced in dramatic form. Play is 
transformed and becomes dramatic in character. While 
highly spontaneous still, it has the spontaneity of the 
rapidly fluctuating imagination. Physical activity is 
still enjoyed for its own sake, but more for the satis- 
faction of the active imagination. The physical ob- 
ject is no longer of interest merely as a center of reac- 
tion and as a source of new sensations. It is reduced to 
a subsidiary position ; it becomes the medium through 
which interesting images are expressed, objectified, 
made vivid, and enjoyed again. The chair is not 
something to be pushed about for the mere pleasure of 
physical control ; it has become a train of cars, a deliv- 
ery wagon, a fire engine, or something else for which 
the child has a vivid image that is pressing for release. 
The activity of the imagination widens the field 
of control. The mind reaches out actively to enrich 
and correlate experience. The present moment and 
what it brings cease to be isolated. The mind can 
link it to the past and anticipate its significance to the 
future. Present situations become a part of a larger 
complex through their associations with things remote 
in time and space. Mental control replaces or directs 
physical control. This is well illustrated in the child's 



THE CHILD 105 

play. Time and space become soluble, action is not 
tied down to the dot of here and now. The fact that 
the fire engine passed an hour ago, vomiting smoke 
and flame and making a most exciting din, does not 
remove it from the sphere of the child's present inter- 
ests and activities. In play he can bring it back; he 
can clothe the chair which is at hand with all the inter- 
esting characteristics of the fascinating engine. In 
imaginative play everything in heaven above and in 
the earth below is brought under the mental control of 
the child. He is monarch of all he surveys, time and 
space fix no bounds to his empire. There is nothing 
which he cannot have if he will — drums, soldiers, 
stores, engines, and the wild animals of desert and 
jungle. There is nothing that he may not be from the 
coal man to the king. Everything yields to his control, i 
The world is free and plastic, to be molded to his will. 
In his imagination and dramatic play he can satisfy 
to the full his natural impulse for power and control. 
But it must not be thought that fanciful and dramatic 
control is all that is yielded by the growth of imagina- 
tion. Normally every psychic function plays some 
part in practical adjustment. Imagination is no 
exception to the rule. Images become the symbols 
of realities existent or possible. In meeting practical 
situations the mind can work first with the symbols 
of things and acts and thus project in advance of overt 



106 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

action ends and the processes by which they shall be 
reached. We learn to think a thing through in advance, 
or partially in advance, of behavior. The experimenta- 
tion is done in a sort of mental shorthand. When the 
mode of procedure is perfected, we direct action in a 
straight course to its goal. From the age of two years 
on, the little child can do something of this sort in sim- 
ple situations involving familiar objects and familiar 
acts. With the rapid development of imagination in 
the kindergarten-primary age, the range of the child's 
mental control over practical situations is rapidly 
extended. But it is hindered in its full realization by 
certain characteristics of the image that will later be 
discussed, particularly its spontaneous and motor 
nature. 

^ Social development. 

On the social side, this is the period in which the 
child gets control of the fundamentals of social adjust- 
ment. In his wider contact with children and adults 
in the school and the neighborhood, the basic things 
in manners, morals, ideals, and the forms of speech are 
assimilated and put to use in the control of his own 
behavior. Hence there is very great importance to 
be attached to an enriched and vital social life in the 
school. The school that meets the needs of this stage 
of development must certainly be a real world of social 



THE CHILD 107 

relationships, a place where children live with other 
children as well as a place where they receive instruc- 
tion. And it must reflect in a dramatic way the in- 
terests and activities of the real world in so far as they 
touch the lives of children. That has been one of the 
most significant things about the kindergarten, and the 
primary grades have become infected with the same 
spirit and point of view. The enrichment and develop- 
ment of social experience is a very important task. 
If this whole period of four or five years could come 
under one unifying control, much more could be done 
in the way of this fundamental social training of 
children. 

Individuality and personality. 

This whole period of the child's life is marked by 
great freedom, spontaneity, and impulsiveness. The 
inner life of thought and feeling flows naturally out 
into action with little constraint. The child is frank 
and innocent and trustful. His natural credulity and 
ignorance on the one hand and his natural spontaneity 
on the other make him very suggestible. He can be 
turned easily from one state of feeling or emotion to 
another, or from one line of action to another. His 
will is likely to be fluctuating and unstable; but in 
the line of his instincts and most absorbing interests 
he is likely to display considerable concentration and 



108 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

tenacity. This should be respected and guided as the 
basis of training in work and conscious effort and will. 
With the growth of control over the more complex 
muscular activities, his power to achieve is widened 
in range. AVhen to this is added the growing power 
to direct his activities by images or ideas, he comes to 
feel his own power and to realize himself as a cause, 
a center of power on his own account. This new con- 
sciousness of power is enjoyable, perhaps as subtle 
and far-reaching a source of satisfaction as it is to the 
normal adult. It is not to be wondered at if he some- 
times exaggerates it to get the heightened effect which 
comes from the setting of his own will up against that 
of others. The development of a certain amount of 
aggressiveness and self-assertion is normal to this 
period and is a sign of progress in self-control and social 
adjustment. At the same time, the consciousness of 
self at this time is pretty largely objective ; the focus 
of the child's attention and interest is outward rather 
than inward. He uses ideas but is not necessarily con- 
scious of them ; his interest is in things and acts. 

Principles of interpretation of the child's imagination. 

Conformity to the law of motor flow, — The whole 
mental life of the child of this period is markedly sub- 
ject to the law of motor flow of consciousness. This 
accounts for his spontaneity and irrepressibility. He 



THE CHILD 109 

is highly suggestible — all sorts of sensory experience, 
what he sees and hears, seem to operate as cues of ac- 
tion. His attention is mobile and fluctuating, caught 
first by one thing then another. His images seem to 
be merely transition points in a sensori-motor circuit. 
To have an image or an idea is to act. It is something 
on the go. It is not held back and checked up by con- 
siderations of outcome or consequences. It lacks the 
constraint and orderly control of the adult mental 
process. This is seen in the infinite variety and fluctu- 
ation of his play corresponding to the rapid shifting 
of imagery and interests. There is a strong tendency 
in such school exercises as drawing and construction 
work not to wait for completed directions but to plunge 
in and do something at once, to express the first image 
that arises in response to the words or the acts of the 
teacher. In dramatization and other forms of school 
work the same principle applies. 

Image and reality not sharply distinguished, — One 
of the most immediate consequences of the motor 
nature of the child's imagery is his failure to distinguish 
between the image and the reality for which it stands. 
He tends to act upon his image at once. The more 
interesting it is the stronger the motor pressure for 
expression. He doesn't question its validity, he lets 
it go. This is well seen in the child's early drawings. 
Their crudity and lack of conformity to reality doesn't 



110 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

bother him at all. He is very naive in the matter. 
He undertakes with equal readiness to draw birds, 
animals, machinery, landscapes — a few scratches of 
the pencil or crayon and the magic is accomplished. 
I watched a boy of pre-kindergarten age draw an "elec- 
tricity factory," then lightning striking it, and upon 
suggestion he didn't hesitate to draw the thunder 
too ! He was all excitement, aflame with the idea, 
and never raised any question of possibility or impossi- 
bility. The pressure of the idea had to be released 
in crayon and in talk. The child who is asked to draw 
the picture of an apple with a stick thrust through it 
makes the stick show full length, instead of the two 
ends which are actually visible. He is not bothered 
by the fact that the picture of the man standing beside 
the house is taller than the house, or that the furniture 
shows right through the walls. His images are vague 
and fleeting ; movement, go, expression is the main 
thing. It is the image that is interesting, the fact is 
subordinate. This is seen in the tendency for him 
to tell as true things which have only occurred to his 
mind. With us, the two orders of experience, psychi- 
cal and objective, must match; and if they do not 
we suspect that the psychical experience is untrue or 
unreal. We have learned to set a different value upon 
images that can be checked up by objective tests and 
those which cannot. To the child the main thing is 



THE CHILD 111 

their vivid and interesting character. Why is it any 
worse to tell about the interesting thing that occurred 
in imagination than to talk about that which was 
actually seen and heard? The value of the image to 
him consists in the fact that it is interesting or excit- 
ing, that is the measure of its reality. Hence it is no 
lie for him to utter or express that which as a matter of 
fact is "only in his mind." When his imagery becomes 
more definite with the progress of experience, and when 
he has gained the power to hold the motor tendency 
of the idea in check, this difficulty will vanish of its 
own accord. 

Image and act not sharply differentiated. — With the 
little child under the stress of the motor tendency of 
his ideas, there is no sharp distinction between the 
image and the act. They are parts of one continuous 
organic process ; the image is the beginning of a pro- 
cess of which the act is the end. It all tends to be what 
we call play, interesting for its own sake. The entire 
process of activity hasn't been analyzed into a series 
of steps, with a definite and clear-cut end to which 
all else is subordinated. In the attempt to control 
increasingly complex practical and constructive situa- 
tions, the conditions force the growth of such distinc- 
tions between image and act, between process and 
product, or between means and end. That is one of 
the great values of practical projects of a simple sort 



112 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

in the development of the imagination. Because of 
the small symbolic character of the image, the child's 
thinking in this period is not reflective, but rather 
an organization of ideas or suggestions that feels right 
in the light of previous experience. If this experience 
has been rich and varied, thinking is apt to be success- 
ful within simple situations involving little that is 
strange and unusual. 

Widening and unifying of experience, — Through the 
function of imagination the child is reaching out for 
a wider and more unified experience. The mind leaps 
backward and forward from that which is given to 
sense to that which is not. The given element tends 
to restore either an original or a fanciful whole of 
which it is a part. Where there are gaps in experience, 
the mind is restless and ill at ease until they are bridged 
with fact or with fancy. This partially explains the 
active exploration, investigation, and the persistent 
questioning of the child of this period. It is what 
makes the myth and the story meet a real psychical 
need. 

"The nature myth appeals to the child, as to the 
primitive man, largely for the reason that the inter- 
pretation which it gives of the facts of nature brings 
them within the world of his experience and makes 
more intelligible to him the sun, the moon, the stars, 
wind, thunder, lightning, the echo, etc. In the myth 



THE CHILD 113 

they cease to confront him in all their mysterious iso- 
lation and out-there-ness. Through his imagination 
they have been brought into his experience and have 
been made emotionally congruent with the other facts 
of his experience. By means of the myth gaps in the 
imagination, as it seeks to grasp related facts as one 
whole, are filled ; and the tension of mind due to these 
gaps is relieved. Take for example the experience of 
the primitive man with the sun. He sees it rise in 
the east and set in the west. It then vanishes from his 
view, reappearing in the east the following morning. 
But the imagination is not satisfied with this break, 
or gap, in the experience ; the mind seeks to fill it in. 
The formation of the myth that the sun is carried 
around the rim of the disk-shaped earth in a boat 
from the west to the east fills in that gap and gives 
unity to the otherwise isolated facts of experience. 
The myth serves the same function for the child as for 
the primitive man. Through its agency discordant 
elements of nature are woven together into a system, 
and a fundamental impulse toward unity is satisfied. 
This unity may dissolve again at various points and 
have to be reconstructed, but it is nevertheless sig- 
nificant that a system of relations has been set up at 
all. The existence of such systems of relationships, 
crude and even erroneous though they 'may be, is a 
necessary prelude to the emergence and development 



114 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

of the thinking process. Thinking does not in the 
first place set up relationships, but it works within 
a system to define and reconstruct and make explicit 
relationships within that system and to take advantage 
of them in consciously determining modes of action 
in problematic situations." ^ 

Fairy stories bring things together in fanciful unities 
that are emotionally satisfying. Hero stories give 
organizations of experience analogous to those of real 
life and illustrate the virtues in a setting of concrete 
relationships. Stories of plant and animal life bring 
together from a wide range of sense-perception, ex- 
perience involving wide gaps of time and space, many 
facts into one meaningful and satisfying whole. From 
the point of view of meeting the insistent needs of 
this period for the organization of experience no teach- 
ing instrument is superior to the story. This, of course, 
presupposes a background of actual experience with 
people and with the facts of nature enriched and de- 
veloped to the point that organization of some sort 
performs a satisfying function. 

Unity of the child's experience unreflective, — It must 
be remembered that the organizations of the child's 
experience do not at first represent reflective unities, 
or the products of scientific thinking. The great 
mobility of the imagination leaves little room for the 

Quoted from "The Psychology of Thinking," pp. 178-179. 



THE CHILD 115 

reflective element. Reflection involves stopping to 
examine, evaluate, and judge. With the child the 
sequence of ideas is determined by felt relationships 
or felt relevances rather than by processes of intel- 
lectual judgment. Whatever there is of organization 
is the unity of the emotional rather than the reflec- 
tive whole. The bonds of connection are those which 
feel congruous or satisfy the interests of the child's 
limited personal experience. The child of kindergar- 
ten age is not troubled by a collection of things that 
includes pretty leaves, pictures, nails, round smooth 
stones, bits of glass, and other miscellaneous objects. 
They belong together because they are interesting and 
satisfying to him. Much the same principle applies 
to all his mental unities, and it takes a long process 
of growth and development to reach the point of caring 
for reflective and logical organizations of facts. When 
we try to give to the ideas of the child of this period 
a finished scientific form we do violence to the plastic, 
spontaneous, and emotional nature of his imagination. 
This should not mean, however, that fictitious things 
are to be preferred to those which are real and true. 
The real and the true in nature and in life may have 
a personal value to the child and a warmth of interest 
just as strong as the fanciful and the fictitious. Hero 
stories and nature study meet his needs side by side 
with myths and fairy stories. 



116 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

Kindergarten-primary period as a transition age. 

Our whole discussion of this period has tended to 
emphasize the fact that it is the era of greatest physical 
and mental spontaneity in the life of the child. But 
this spontaneity is not a fixed and final characteristic. 
There is significant progress made in the direction of 
higher types of control. Transitions are under way. 
The most significant of these transitions are the fol- 
lowing : from the crude and clumsy in physical reac- 
tion to the fairly well -controlled and skillful ; from the 
fluid, mobile, and fanciful type of imagery to that 
which is more practical and relevant; from the reign 
of the senses and immediate experience to the golden 
era of curiosity, imagination, and dramatization; 
from the highly suggestible and spontaneous type of 
individuality to the more stable and assertive type; 
from the narrow social relationships of the home to 
the sphere of widening social and moral reactions. In 
meeting the needs of this period, of course it is neces- 
sary to understand the mobility and spontaneity of 
the entire life of the child. But it is also necessary 
to keep in mind the line of development and prog- 
ress, in order that the activities of the child may be 
guided into the most fruitful channels. 



THE CHILD 117 

Dominant point of view in instruction. 

The ideal of instruction for this period is that of 
the growth and enrichment of experience through the 
pupil's own immediate activities physical and mental. 
In the enriched experience of this plastic age are to 
be found the roots of all further knowledge, skills, apt- 
itudes, traits of character, dispositions, interests, and 
ideals. Hence we must extend the number and the 
range of kindergarten and primary activities and 
materials. His experience should include an acquaint- 
ance with such fundamental materials as earth, fiber, 
fabric, wood, and metal; with fundamental tools and 
their uses — knives, scissors, saws, and other cutting 
tools, hammer, screwdriver, auger, and the various 
simpler carrying, prying, and lifting tools ; with funda- 
mental processes of the life of the home and the neigh- 
borhood ; with the fundamental social relationships 
of the home, the school, the playground, the church, 
and the community; with the fundamental ideals of 
the rights and obligations of persons, of unselfishness, 
kindliness, service, etc. Utilize his curiosity, imagina- 
tion, and love of the story and the picture to quicken 
the outreach of his mind and to supplement his famil- 
iar experience. Enrich his moral and religious life 
with everything appropriate to his age rather than 
teach forms, symbols, and creeds. Cultivate his spon- 



118 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

taneous feelings, attitudes, and impulses toward the 
good, the beautiful, and the true until they become 
inherent and the trend of his life is set in these direc- 
tions. Give abundant experience in self-expression — 
in play, dramatization, drawing, paper cutting, pasting 
of pictures, rhythmic exercises, singing, and the various 
forms of constructive work with the hands. 

In construction, drawing, music, reading, and writ- 
ing, let the emphasis be put on self-expression and the 
satisfaction of the child's natural impulses rather than 
on the finished products. Get children to love what 
they are doing, to really live in the school and its activ- 
ities. This is the big thing in the kindergarten and 
primary grades as compared with skill or the objec- 
tive worth of the product that is produced. It is 
not the time for great stress upon technique. The 
story and the zest of its pursuit is more important at 
the beginning than phonics; drawing and the delight 
in the creative and expressive powers transcends in 
value the ability to make straight lines or lifelike re- 
productions of external realities. Neither motor nor 
mental processes are sufficiently developed and brought 
under control to justify strong pressure on the child 
for fine, detailed, and exact work. This does not mean 
that all sorts of crudities are to be tolerated permanently 
in the progress of children through these years, but 
rather that the emphasis shall be kept constantly on 



THE CHILD 119 

function, self-expression, enrichment of experience, and 
that the technical elements shall be brought in gradually 
as it becomes evident that the child needs them as 
means for improving his growing powers of under- 
standing and appreciating finished products. 

Outside of the constructive activities, the story, with 
its appeal to the imagination, is the fundamental teach- 
ing instrument. The moral and social value of stories 
does not consist in the use of them as a basis for a 
series of homilies or as a means of moralizing, but 
rather in whatever they have of truths and of ideals 
that are vital and palpitating with spirit, life, and 
emotion. On account of the mobility of the child's 
attention and the unreflective character of his thought, 
the same theme must be approached from a variety 
of directions if it is to get its full grip upon the life of 
the child. Stories to be effective, either in the im- 
pressing of ideals or of fundamental facts of nature 
and of life, need to be carefully grouped about a central 
theme, so that the impression is renewed and impressed 
repeatedly. 

In the disciplinary control of the child of this age, 
the principle of suggestion is fundamental. He is 
exceedingly responsive. The attention may stray easily, 
at the same time it is easily caught again. He is 
naturally trustful and wishes to be liked. The teacher 
should call forth his faith and confidence, lead and 



120 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

inspire, rather than drive by authority and force. 
DiscipHne of Httle children is almost wholly a matter 
of conducting the work in such a way as to make re- 
peated appeals to attention, not requests or demands 
for attention. 

Period op the Middle Grades 

This period includes the work of the school from the 
third or fourth grade to the sixth inclusive. It approx- 
imates the span of life between the ages of eight and 
twelve years. It differs most markedly from the pre- 
ceding period in the more thoroughgoing organization, 
consolidation, development, and control of the mental 
and motor processes that were plastic, mobile, and 
spontaneous in the earlier years. 

Outstanding characteristics. 

Physical growth is slower in this period than in the 
preceding one. The finer muscular processes are 
brought under control, and a high degree of muscular 
skill becomes possible. By the end of the period the 
average boy has become expert in running, climbing, 
wrestling, swimming, skating, and bicycle riding. His 
hands are apt in the control of tools and materials of 
construction. He is in fact a most marvelously alert, 
agile, and active animal. His physical perfection and 
bodily control in many ways surpass those of the 



THE CHILD 121 

adult, the difference being one of strength and endur- 
ance rather than a matter of skill in the use of his 
bodily powers. 

In this period there is marked growth in mental 
control. The imagination loses something of its fan- 
ciful and spontaneous character and becomes the in- 
strument of control over action. The power and 
range of practical thinking is extended, and less de- 
pendence is placed upon impulsive and random modes 
of behavior in securing one's ends. 

The social nature develops along interesting lines 
in this period. Toward the end of the period, we find 
marked interest in the gang and the clique. Boys 
tend to congregate and to carry out together all sorts 
of athletic and practical enterprises. Girls form into 
cliques, in which the bonds of association are very 
narrow and exclusive. The influence upon the social 
and moral life of children of this period is often deter- 
mined more by their gang and clique life than by 
parents and teachers. Hence the educational impor- 
tance of parent and teacher getting into the gang and 
giving it direction. 

Nature of the child's imagery in this period, principles 
of interpretation. 

In the preceding period, the imagination was mobile, 
fluid, and spontaneous. The motor flow of imagination 



122 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

was so rapid that it lacked control. In this period, the 
power develops to hold the image in check to some 
extent. Hence it becomes possible to distinguish more 
adequately between the image and the reality for 
which it stands. The two can be compared and 
checked up with reference to one another. If the 
image is inadequate, time can be taken to define it 
and make it accurate. This means that it will be a 
better mental tool. Put in other terms, the image 
becomes the symbol of a reality which exists or may 
exist ; it is not merely a tendency to act. It comes to 
stand for, or signify, something else. It has its value 
in relation to the things for which it stands and not 
merely in itself. With growth in the symbolic func- 
tion of the image, it becomes possible to distinguish 
more clearly between the means and the end of action, 
or between processes and the products which result 
from them, or between causes and their effects. Im- 
ages can be held back long enough to be examined, 
to be judged, and to be correlated with one another 
within a series of suggestions or ideas. Hence action 
can be planned in advance — ends projected and the 
means be determined by which they shall be realized. 
But it must be remembered that in this period imagi- 
nation tends to work within limited situations capable 
of being grasped in concrete terms, or in the terms of 
that which is relatively familiar and relevant to the 



THE CHILD 123 

child's interests. There is less power of dealing with 
wide generalizations or with abstract principles than 
in the case of the adult. This may be due largely 
to the more immediate character of the child's interests. 
It must not be supposed that the child of this period 
has no power to generalize or to think in abstract 
terms. But the direction and range of this power is 
more limited than it is at a later age. 

Some applications and interpretations. 

Attention to technique, — This is a period in which 
more attention can be paid to the technique of pro- 
cesses that result in skill of action and in the produc- 
tion of finished products, both practical and mental. 
The child now has both the motor and the mental 
basis for this. In writing, drawing, and manual 
training, increasing emphasis can be placed upon the 
excellence of the product. The more refined and com- 
plex motor coordinations are being perfected which 
make this physically possible; and the imagination 
is growing in the direction of greater definiteness and 
accuracy as well as in the power of correlating images 
into series symbolic of the relationships that exist 
between means and ends. The development in im- 
agination also makes it possible to lay stress upon the 
technique of reading, language, and geography to a 
larger extent. These elements of technique become 



124 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

significant to the mind that has developed to the point 
of feeUng their relevancy, hence the teaching of them 
becomes functional. For this reason the formal pro- 
cesses involved in memorizing and drill have a larger 
justification now than in the kindergarten-primary 
period. They can be related to larger ends the realiza- 
tion of which is impossible without these exercises. 

Training in thinking, — With the rapid growth in 
the power to distinguish between means and ends, 
we should expect a corresponding rapid expansion 
in the field of the child's thinking. What can the 
school do to minister to the need of this age in this 
respect, and how can it do \l? Here I can do no 
better than to quote a passage from my '' Psychology 
of Thinking." "If the child is to be trained to think 
he must be given opportunity to consciously adjust 
means to ends. But the emphasis must fall upon those 
types of situation in which the ends are results that 
are quite definitely related to processes from which they 
spring. All the manual training and industrial activ- 
ities are from this point of view especially valuable 
as furnishing the right sort of problems. In geography 
there is opportunity to emphasize I valleys, rivers, 
mountains, cities, etc., as the outgrowths of certain 
processes. They are results, definite and concrete, 
of activities which are perfectly relevant and com- 
paratively easy of comprehension because of their 



THE CHILD 125 

concreteness. A valley, for example, may quite easily 
be seen to be the result of certain processes. It has an 
explanation. The child can see even now that erosion 
is going on at some points and deposits of soil at others. 
In the light of certain present concrete causes and 
conditions he can work out the process by which the 
valley came to be what it is now. In doing this, he 
is mentally adjusting means to ends, but this he is 
doing within a "particular concrete whole. But in doing 
this repeatedly with many concrete wholes, he is 
forming a habit of looking upon things as explainable 
by reference to principles. Thus he will ultimately 
come to the appreciation of principles and laws them- 
selves. In nature study also, it is easy to correlate 
cause and effect in a multitude of simple situations. 
In history this is a little more difficult, requiring more 
effort of the imagination, but here much can certainly 
be done in the way of cultivating the habit of thinking 
of the institutions and modes of life with which we are 
familiar as the outcome of certain preceding processes. 
The child is more interested in seeing relations within 
a particular whole than in seeing broad and sweeping 
generalizations. His training in thinking should begin 
with a pretty concrete consciousness of results and the 
means to secure them, from which should be gradually 
developed a more generalized sense of the relation between 
means and ends. This would culminate in the formu- 



126 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

lation of rules rather than principles. The child may 
understand the *how' if not the 'why.' I say under-' 
stand, not merely know. Understanding the 'how' im- 
plies a consciousness of the relation between the means 
and the end within a particular whole, at least ; know- 
ing the 'how' may be a purely blind process, which 
is from the child's point of view wholly arbitrary." ^ 
The point of view for the training of thinking in this 
period might be stated as that of the project and the 
problem, and so far as problems are used those which 
grow rather directly out of projects.^ 

Transformation and development of natural impulses, — 
All forms of instinctive action are transformed in this 
period from the more spontaneous to the more con- 
trolled type. Play activities get organized into games. 
Curiosity fimctions at a higher intellectual level. 
Construction becomes purposeful and intentional to 
a larger degree. The social impulse ceases to be merely 
a gregarious tendency ; the spirit of loyalty is developed 
in the gang and in the clique. The tendency to collect 
is turned into definite channels — collections of stamps, 
coins, picture post cards, birds' eggs, minerals, etc. 
Teaching that is to meet the needs of life in this period 
must recognize that the mental level is higher than 

1 "Psychology of Thinking," pp. 183-184. 

2 The method of the project and the problem is discussed later in detail. See 
p. 247 ff. 



THE CHILD 127 

that of the kindergarten period and yet has not reached 
the scientific level. In utilizing the natural impulses, 
they must be satisfied at this higher level in which 
the organizing and outreaching powers of mind are 
developing rapidly. 

The child's will, — The growth of will is coordinate 
with the development of muscular control and the use 
of the image as a tool of mental control. It requires 
both for efficient expression of the will. But control 
of action by means of ideas in this period is something 
that operates within the field of rather narrow and 
immediate interests and relationships. Strong per- 
sistency of effort is correlated with undertakings in 
which there is something which is felt to be relevant 
or of personal concern. Will is practical. It must 
be trained in practical situations which call for the 
mental element. Ideals and their expression must 
be closely correlated. The emotional element of will 
must be emphasized. Training in ideals must come 
through a study of their concrete working in real life. 
In this way they become intelligible and also tend to 
gather into themselves the feeling element which makes 
them dynamic. 

Personality of the child. — The personality of the 
child grows in stability in this period. He becomes 
less suggestible and imitative. Spontaneity gives way 
to control. There is greater tenacity of will because 



128 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

there is greater understanding of ends and the means 
of their reaUzation. Work is correspondingly more 
possible. The child in this period is not fully social- 
ized. His attitude is not selfish, but it is ego-cenlric 
and objective. He takes for granted what is done 
for him in the home, he does not feel responsibility 
strongly. It would be abnormal for him to do so, as 
he is still in the natural period of dependence on others 
in all the bigger things of life. His social nature is 
broadening through nature's device of the gang and 
the clique. Here he first learns what voluntary loy- 
alty means, and he enters into the larger human inher- 
itance of social cooperation. 

Dominant point of view in instruction. 

Instruction in this period should continue the enrich- 
ment of experience through many forms of direct 
contact, observation, and participation, and also 
through the use of the constructive imagination in 
bringing clearly before the mind things learned through 
telling or reading. It is the time to emphasize more 
than in the preceding period the processes of mem- 
orizing, drill, habituation, control of technique which 
result in higher skill and more thorough consolidation 
of mental and motor powers. Control of the symbols 
of the fundamental types of knowledge should be 
acquired, but always in close relationship to their 



THE CHILD 129 

meanings. It is a period of mastery of the finer mus- 
cular processes ; and this, taken together with the 
development of symboHsm in imagination, makes it 
possible to throw larger stress upon finished products 
of drawing, constructive work, and of thinking. The 
teacher should make these grades a period for the 
exercise of much practical thinking, using projects 
and problems rather than scientifically organized mat- 
ter. It is the time for organizing the larger unities, 
or systems, of experience in terms of the relationship 
of facts to one another; but principles should first 
be seen in their setting in concrete situations. This 
is the period of hero worship, when interest in biog- 
raphy and epic story runs high and should be utilized 
as a means of inculcating ideals and of socializing the 
attitude. With the larger distinction between means 
and ends, work and study become differentiated from 
play, and the school ought to train the pupil to study 
by making him conscious of ends to be achieved and 
interesting him in the worth of these ends and the 
processes by which they can be achieved. Rules, 
regulations, and tasks should be rationalized in the 
sense that they are neither arbitrary on the one hand 
nor related merely to original instinctive tendencies 
on the other. The beginning should be made in this 
period of the transfer of authority from external power 
to inner sense of relevancy. School discipline would 



130 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

come largely through this transfer of authority to the 
self who is responsible for his action and also from the 
direction of activities in channels of vital and practical 
interest to the pupil. 

The High School Age 

If we accept the growing tendency to adopt the 
junior high school organization, then the entire high 
school period covers six years of work beginning with the 
seventh grade. This six year period is divided into 
two parts of three years each, called respectively the 
junior high school and the senior high school. Where 
children progress regularly through the grades with 
little or no retardation, the span of life included in 
the entire high school period extends from twelve or 
thirteen years of age to seventeen or eighteen inclusive. 

In the growth and development of pupils in this 
period, the characteristics which differentiate them 
from those in the elementary school all center in the 
onset and development of adolescence. The transition 
to adolescence is made by different individuals at 
widely different ages, running all the way from 11 
to 16 in girls and from 12 to 17 in boys. But the 
vast majority of both boys and girls have crossed the 
threshold of sex maturity before the close of the junior 
high school. After this threshold has been crossed, 
the rate of maturing varies greatly among individuals. 



THE CHILD 131 

but the most significant phenomena of adolescence 
are Hkely to extend well into or through the senior 
high school period, and complete growth and develop- 
ment is not attained for several years after that. 

On account of the wide variability in the time at 
which adolescence begins, the junior high school finds 
as one of its most peculiar problems the necessity of 
dealing with pupils in the same classes some of whom 
are little fellows while others are big fellows. The 
two groups may be of equal ability, but they are bound 
to differ widely in their personal, mental, and social 
interests and attitudes. The little fellows would have 
to be interpreted in the light of the principles already 
discussed for children of the fifth and sixth grades. 
Our discussion of the high school age at this point 
applies, then, not to those who are pre-adolescent but 
to those only who are entering upon the adolescent 
period or who are already adolescent. The emphasis 
will fall very largely upon those characteristics which 
mark the earlier stages of adolescence, which are likely 
to mark the lives of the great majority of pupils in the 
latter part of the junior high school and the earlier 
part of the senior high school. 

Outstanding facts of early adolescence. 

The dominant characteristics of early adolescence 
are rapid physical growth, expanding intellect, quick- 



132 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

ened emotional life, appreciation of the relation of the 
individual to society, and a deepening moral and spirit- 
ual nature. Physical growth is very rapid at the be- 
ginning of adolescence. Particularly is this true of 
height. Extreme cases have been known of increase 
in height of twelve or thirteen inches in a single year. 
But this is very unusual. Growth in weight lags 
behind increase in height; it is slower and continues 
for several years after growth in height has slowed 
down or ceased. There are marked inequalities of 
growth in this period. Bones may grow faster than 
muscles, and the various parts and organs of the body 
do not all increase in size at the same rate. Girls 
attain their height earlier than boys and for a time 
surpass boys of the same age in height and weight. 
Later the boys shoot up and become ultimately taller 
and heavier on the average than girls. Along with 
the maturing of the sex impulse goes a broadening of 
the social impulse. There is a growing sense of one's 
place in the social order of the adult world and an 
expanding interest in all that pertains to it. The 
mental life is apt to have a wider outreach and to be- 
come conscious of its own power. All the new in- 
terests and outlooks of the period intensify and quicken 
the emotional life. It is a well-established fact that 
the religious consciousness becomes sensitive in this 
period and young people are highly responsive to moral 



THE CHILD 133 

and religious appeals. Personal and social idealism 
run high and the permanent moral and religious atti- 
tudes are likely to be fixed in early adolescence, though 
they may later change their intellectual forms. Like 
the period of the kindergarten-primary child, this 
is an age of marked transitions. There is large plas- 
ticity and spontaneity of the mental, moral, and social 
life. There is high suggestibility and a wide range 
of fluctuation of moods, interests, and attitudes. 
Personality is in a period of reconstruction. In all 
things there is a forward movement toward the stability 
of thought, emotion, will, and conduct characteristic 
of the adult. In the account which follows, this must 
be kept in mind. Naturally emphasis will be put on 
the transitional features, and the reader must check 
up the account by keeping continually in mind that 
no one individual will manifest all the qualities and 
characteristics discussed and that many of them are 
exceedingly transitory in others. 

New problems. 

Problem of physical and physiological readjustment, — 
The rapid growth of the organism makes necessary 
widespread muscular and functional readjustment. In 
the preceding period the child has gained a high degree 
of physical control and muscular dexterity. His habits 
and skills were adapted to the size and strength of his 



134 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

body. The sudden new access of bulk disorganized 
his old habits of motor adjustment. He has to use a 
taller body, longer legs, longer arms, and bigger hands 
and feet in doing the same things. It is like putting 
into the hands of the mechanic trained in the use of 
tools of a particular size, shape, and weight a kit of 
tools which differ in all these respects. He is bound 
to make many mistakes and to be clumsy for a time. 
For the early adolescent, going through a doorway, 
sitting down in a chair, or picking up a pin is a different 
process from what it was a short time before. 

It requires a different coordination of motor and sen- 
sory processes. The ordinary relationships have been 
disturbed, and a new adjustment has to be effected 
before skill is attained. It is no wonder that he be- 
comes awkward, self-conscious, and bashful for a time. 
In the performance of its inner functions also the body 
has to accommodate itself to changes in blood pressure 
and to many inequalities of normal function incident 
to inequalities of growth of parts and organs. 

It follows from the facts of physical change that phys- 
ical education must be cautious about putting undue 
strain upon the plastic parts of the body or unduly 
specializing their activities during the period of rapid 
growth. It is worse for a boy to carry the one-sided 
burden of the postman than it is for a man. Occupa- 
tions in mines and factories which call for the same 



THE CHILD 135 

bodily posture for long periods of time are likely to 
result in more serious malformations than in the case 
of adults. Highly specialized physical education may 
put undue emphasis on muscular feats or muscular 
development at the expense of vital organs. The whole 
body should be given a chance to attain proper equi- 
librium. 

Normally the period of rapid growth is one of abound- 
ing energy, vitality, and power to resist disease. There 
is a heightened sense of vitality, with corresponding 
exuberance of spirits. Life seems worth while, and 
there is strong physical enthusiasm. On the whole 
the period is one in which there should be plenty of 
work and of play to utilize the abounding energy of 
youth. At the same time, there should be an avoid- 
ance of undue tension, strain, or overwork. The 
results of a breakdown in this period are likely to be 
more far-reaching than with those who are mature. 
When there is anything abnormal in development, this 
may become a very critical period for health. Serious 
complications in nervous and physiological readjust- 
ments may arise. This is intensified by any irregular- 
ities in sex development. Hence, with some this age 
is one marked by physical and nervous lassitude and 
mental depression. Parents and teachers should be 
on the alert for cases of this sort, and special care and 
consideration should be given to those who find the 



136 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

period of change physically disturbed and critical. 
Better a year out of school than permanent weakness. 
Where withdrawal from school is not necessary, some 
special attention may be given to the regulation of 
hours of work, recreation, and rest. 

Problem of social readjustment, — The emergence of 
the sex instinct emphasizes two things very strongly. 
One of these is that the individual is approaching the 
period of maturity and independence, the other is the 
intensification of the social consciousness. With the 
attainment of normal height, boys and girls feel dis- 
tinctly grown up. Childhood retreats rapidly into the 
past and maturity comes on wings. The sense of in- 
dependence naturally is accentuated by the transition, 
and there is a corresponding demand to be treated as 
men and women. With this comes a larger reliance on 
one's own judgment and a strong tendency to react 
against external parental or social control. A new 
consciousness of self appears and the sense of personality 
is heightened. Hence young people should be given a 
larger measure of freedom in this period ; but past 
training ought not to be lost. The larger freedom, 
under proper direction, would result in the confirmation 
in the life and thought of the individual of all that was 
best in his previous training and the use of it on his own 
responsibility. Parental and school discipline has to 
be exercised from a different angle. Young people 



THE CHILD 137 

must be controlled through their expanding sense of 
honor, responsibility, and integrity. They can be 
reached through sympathy and friendship better than 
through external control. The wise parent or teacher 
will prepare in advance for this transition by estab- 
lishing bonds of friendship and loyalty which will 
enable him to maintain his leadership on the new basis 
when the time comes to make the transition from 
authority to freedom. 

The maturation of the sex instinct intensifies the 
social consciousness. The racial factor asserts itself, 
and the individual is identified with the past and with 
the future of the race. He becomes a member of 
society in a new sense. This is recognized among 
primitive peoples by the rites of initiation into the tribe. 
The social impulse is quickened also by the situation 
which confronts the maturing youth. As he approaches 
man's estate, he stands on the threshold of a larger 
world of human affairs in which he feels that he is soon 
to play a part. Unreflectively he is seeking his social 
adjustment. By a natural law of suggestion which 
makes us more sensitive to those things which are 
relevant to our needs, his interests in the world of 
human affairs widen and deepen. This world of human 
affairs upon the threshold of which he stands is full of 
activities which beckon to him. What part shall he 
play? He becomes sensitive and responsive to its 



138 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

varying problems and interests. Politics, fashion, 
social reform, world problems, literature, industry — all 
take on new meaning and significance. He is filled with 
the spirit of idealism and social enthusiasm. His un- 
tried powers long for a worthy field of action, and he 
has not yet been buflfeted by the hostile forces of the 
world enough to know his weakness and limitations ; 
all things are possible. He admires the men who have 
achieved ; he is a natural hero-worshipper. But hero- 
worship is transformed from admiration for physical 
prowess into admiration for those who render great 
service. It is the social hero who begins to attract. 
In the preadolescent stage, Lincoln might have been 
admired for his rugged outstanding personal qualities ; 
in this era he is admired as the man of vision, the man 
who championed a great cause and became a martyr 
in the hour of his victory. The social consciousness 
broadens until loyalty to the gang is replaced by the 
larger social loyalty. The gang must be representative 
or typical of some cause that is worth while if it is to 
be justified. It must embody some ideal. Responsive- 
ness to ideals is now at its height. These ideals as 
embodied in some concrete life meet his needs as he 
gropes for the underlying principles of worthy be- 
havior. The problem of social readjustment is sim- 
plified by the fact that ideals suggest right ends of 
conduct and the right methods of attaining them. 



THE CHILD 139 

Problem of mental readjustment. — On the side of the 
feeHngs, rapid growth brings with it normally a sense of 
exhilaration. There is an increase of energy and a 
quickening of the tide of life. This has as its natural 
accompaniment greater enthusiasm, eflFervescence, opti- 
mism, joy in life. There is a heightened demand for 
pleasure, recreation, and self-expression. The so-called 
criminal tendencies which some writers find char- 
acteristic of early adolescence are not at bottom criminal 
at all ; they are simply the expression of this overflow- 
ing vitality finding expression in all sorts of pranks. 
Oftentimes the social environment is repressive and 
lacking in facilities for the normal expression of the 
exuberance of spirits of young people. Then activities 
are likely to take forbidden forms, to become anti- 
social, and to drift into criminal directions. This is a 
development that can be prevented by a larger social 
provision for youthful recreation and pleasure. Home, 
school, church, and community must do their part in 
guiding and directing the energy of youth into whole- 
some channels. It is not sufficient to condemn evil; 
substitutes must be provided that will give normal and 
legitimate exercise to the instincts that tend under 
other circumstances to go wrong. 

When adolescent development is for any reason ab- 
normal or disturbed, then the feeling-life will be lacking 
in the buoyancy of which we have been speaking. 



140 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

There is likely to be great lassitude, morbidness, moodi- 
ness, and an unwholesome attitude of introspection. 
Youth under these circumstances has to be dealt 
with very carefully and sympathetically. But even 
in normal adolescents there are likely to be contra- 
dictions and rapid changes in moods, attitudes, and 
behavior. These probably have a physical basis in the 
functional disturbances and fluctuations incident to 
inequalities of growth and development. They may 
be due to oscillation between tendencies and habits of 
childhood that persist and the new tendencies that are 
not yet thoroughly established. At one moment the 
youth acts like a child while claiming the right to be 
treated like an adult, or he is angered because we 
treat him like a child when he feels like an adult. His 
personality is not consolidated on the new adult basis ; 
there is conflict and tension between the old attitudes, 
feelings, and interests and those which are developing 
and leading toward adult standards and ideals. This 
explains a large part of the so-called "storm and stress" 
of adolescence. 

Parents and teachers should anticipate the needs 
of this transition period and tactfully assist boys and 
girls to make the new adjustments the pressure of 
which they often feel without knowing just what is 
the matter and how to meet it. Instead of making 
foolish jokes about beaux and sweethearts, discerning 



THE CHILD 141 

parents will anticipate the needs of this age for the 
companionship of the opposite sex and provide for 
it in normal and wholesome ways. They will not vio- 
late the growing consciousness of big boys and girls by 
keeping them unduly long in styles of dress suited to the 
little fellows. They will recognize the growing sense 
of independence by giving their children something to 
say about what they wear instead of always selecting 
and buying everything for them. They will have an- 
ticipated the coming of adult self-respect by training 
their children in advance in the independent use of 
money. Teachers and parents will meet the needs of 
the transition period for recognition of approaching 
maturity by taking young people more fully into their 
counsel in matters of the home and the school that con- 
cern them. A large part of the awkwardness, self- 
consciousness, and petty willfulness of this period can be 
relieved of its distressing emotional consequences by 
tactful treatment which quietly and unostentatiously 
meets the needs of changing life as they arise. 

Intellectual readjustment is bound up with all the 
processes of growth and development. The approach 
of maturity has tended to emphasize both the con- 
sciousness of individuality and the sense of the social 
nature. To be an individual one must rely on his own 
judgment. Consequently the adolescent must come 
to know what he himself thinks, believes, and stands 



142 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

for. This necessitates a new reflectiveness. He must 
not merely rely on tradition and authority but assume 
responsibility for his own life. His social development 
emphasizes the intellectual impulse from another angle. 
To play his part in the larger world of social activities 
and interests, the youth must come to grips with first 
principles. Without fundamental principles the whole 
social environment is too complex to understand. He is 
feeling for his adjustment to life, but how shall he 
understand life and deal successfully with it.^^ Any- 
thing that helps to organize, explain, and unify now 
has tremendous functional significance for him. Hence 
he is interested in the fundamental principles of science, 
politics, religion, morals, and vocation. His intellectual 
life deepens and widens. He tends to put what he 
has previously learned into thought relations of his 
own. He gets interested in the reflective processes 
and what they yield. This sometimes results in an 
opinionativeness and an argumentativeness that is ri- 
diculous if not positively offensive. However, this is 
only a natural exaggeration of a new virtue. The final 
outcome should be a larger and more wholesome reliance 
on his own judgment, an internalizing of the principles 
of conduct and of life that have been hitherto in large 
part external acquisitions. If rightly guided and di- 
rected the new reflective interest leads to the higher life 
of reason and of science. And so there is a larger justi- 



THE CHILD 143 

fication in this period for emphasis on the scientific re- 
lationships of facts to one another in an organized 
system of knowledge. 

Reconstruction of will and personality. — With the 
quickening of new interests and the projection of new 
vital ideals, the motives of will are tremendously 
strengthened. With the growing consciousness of 
maturity and independence, the will becomes more 
aggressive and assertive. With added thought power, 
action can be guided by ideas and made more clear- 
cut, definite, and purposeful. Added self-reliance is a 
normal expression of the consciousness of growing 
powers. But it must be remembered that the youth of 
this period is still highly suggestible. He is going 
through a transition period and is sensitive to every- 
thing that may have meaning or significance for him 
in making the new adjustments. While thought and 
judgment are gaining power, it is still true that there 
is much spontaneity and impulsiveness ; and there are 
conflicting tendencies at work in his life that often 
produce vacillation of will. Interests and emotions 
shift rapidly from one thing to another and conduct 
often shows surprising contrarieties. Personality is 
not completely formed, it is still in a plastic state. It is 
moving in the direction of a larger relationship of the 
self to the social whole. With the growing social con- 
sciousness, there becomes possible much of altruism 



144 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

and also much of selfishness. Personality is less objec- 
tive and more subjective. Egotism when present is a 
more conscious egotism ; while altruism is more or less 
instinctive and emotional. The problem of relating the 
two in an indissoluble whole has not yet been solved 
at this age. That is usually an achievement of a more 
stable period of development such as middle or later 
adolescence. 

Educational significance of this period. 

The high school period is one of such tremendous 
plasticity that its educational significance can hardly be 
overestimated. In a sense of the word adolescence is a 
new infancy, giving every one that enters into it a new 
chance. The narrower inheritance of the home and 
the neighborhood is being widened and transcended; 
the individual is coming into his broader racial and 
social inheritance. In this period he is responsive to 
the higher impulses that have lifted man so far above the 
animal level and have given us our social, moral, and 
religious ideals. No matter how limited may have 
been the home opportunities of the pupil, in this period 
his whole life may be transformed through his larger 
sensitivity and responsiveness to the higher social 
values. It is in this period of plasticity and high 
social suggestibility that foreign -born children are most 
rapidly Americanized. 



THE CHILD 145 

Where the home training in morals and religion has 
been of the wisest and most tactful sort, the ideals 
of youth have already been set in the direction of the 
higher values. In this case, the transition from pre- 
ceptual and authoritative acceptance of the higher 
ideals to the inner and personal recognition of their 
claim upon life and behavior may be effected with little 
or no emotional disturbance. Where the home training 
has not been good, and bad habits of thought and of 
action have been built up, the period of responsiveness 
to the higher ideals may result in conflict between the 
new and the old and become indeed a period of moral, 
intellectual, and religious "storm and stress." In 
religion, conversion in such cases is likely to manifest 
all the traditional marks of emotional upheaval. Much 
the same sort of experience may be gone through in 
the transformation of the moral life outside of the 
church. In fact, there are many kinds of conversion 
besides that which is called religious that may take 
place in this period. They may occur with much 
"storm and stress" of the emotions or they may be 
like the opening of the bud to the sunshine when the 
right stage of development is reached. We do not 
know the depths of the soul of any one of our pupils, 
we do not know how or when the appeal of the good, the 
beautiful, and the true may strike home. We do know 
that new tendencies of life assert themselves in this 



146 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

period and that any pupil is likely to respond to them if 
the conditions are at all favorable. The unambitious 
may unexpectedly become ambitious, the shirker may 
see new light and begin to work, the "bad" boy may 
find himself responding to some new social impulse that 
transforms his life. We have no right to pass final 
judgment on any pupil in any phase of his life until he 
has passed completely through the period of adoles- 
cence. We can never tell to what new influence he 
may respond. Our attitude must be that "all things 
are possible." Every pupil must be given his chance 
to make the transition into the higher social, intellec- 
tual, and moral life. 

In view of the significance of the period of adoles- 
cence in making transitions of life involved in respond- 
ing to the new tendencies that assert themselves in 
this period, we ought to be very insistent that the 
whole period should be utilized as fully as possible for 
educative purposes. Schooling should be prolonged, 
the child kept under favorable influences throughout 
the plastic period. It is the higher nature particularly 
that is at stake in this period. We ought to run no 
risks of arrested development. From the point of 
view of the higher life there is tremendous social waste 
involved in using up boys and girls in the economic 
process, instead of giving them the larger training 
for citizenship and vocational service. 



THE CHILD 147 

Dominant point of view in instruction. 

This period is, like that of the kindergarten-primary 
age, one of great sensitivity, spontaneity, and suggesti- 
biHty, but at a higher and more social level. It must 
be kept in mind that it is a transition period, with all 
the reconstructions of life that are involved. Indi- 
vidual differences among pupils are more striking 
than at any other time, and the differences between 
two years in the life of the same person may be very 
marked. Hence it is necessary to cultivate a sympa- 
thetic insight into the needs of the individual, and to 
vary class procedure with reference to individual needs 
much more than in the period of the fifth and sixth 
grades. 

As a period of marked plasticity and rapid transi- 
tion of interests, much attention must be paid to the 
enrichment of experience. The mind is reaching out 
very actively in new directions, and new needs are 
multiplying which crave for immediate satisfaction 
more than they do for the technique of organization. 
Make instruction in this period, if ever at any time, 
illuminating and inspirational as opposed to factual 
and didactic. Young people are reaching out for a 
larger understanding of the world in which they live, 
but not wholly in the spirit of science; they want to 
know what it has of meaning and significance for them, 



148 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

what it has to offer that can satisfy the surge of their 
new interests and feehngs. They are looking out upon 
the world as a place in which they are to play a part, 
in which they are to achieve great things and realize 
themselves. The problems of life have a new interest. 
Let literature, history, and all the humanities be taught 
in such a way as to function in the life of the adolescent. 
Let the pupils satisfy their interest in the great problems 
of life rather than learn a mere catalogue of critical 
facts. Science also illuminates the mysteries of life 
and of industrial progress. Let these young people 
feel something of its meaning and significance to the 
world as well as master a certain number of logically 
arranged experiments. It is the human interest that 
is the big thing in the school work of the adolescent. 

While making a large place for the human interest 
in whatever is taught, — whether literature, history, 
mathematics, or science, — we must at the same time 
recognize the growing intellectual powers. With the 
increased interest in generalization and the illuminat- 
ing and interpretative function of laws and principles, 
it should be the task of instruction to begin the rational- 
ization of nature and of life. Facts should be seen in 
ever wider relationships and some intimation should 
be gotten of nature as a system. With the growing 
power of reason, that which has hitherto been precep- 
tual and authoritative should be more fully rationalized. 



THE CHILD 149 

The customs, conventions, and ideals of the moral 
Hfe should be seen in the light of the interests that 
they serve in the larger social whole. And religion, 
accepted hitherto as a matter of family and community 
tradition, should be seen as a reasonable thing and its 
demands as not resting upon some arbitrary obliga- 
tion. In other words, the moral and religious life 
should be internalized and made personal, a matter of 
one's own grateful and willing choice because of their 
relevancy to the meeting of fundamental needs. So, 
with all the institutions of society, something of their 
rationale should be seen. They may have grown up 
in an unreflective process of social evolution; but 
nevertheless they are adapted to some extent to the 
meeting of fundamental needs of society. This ra- 
tionalization of life and of nature needs to go hand in 
hand with the active outreach of mind and heart for 
new experience; it will give balance and poise to the 
rapidly shifting subjective life of the adolescent, but 
should not be carried so far as to become a lifeless sys- 
tematization of scientific material before those special- 
ized interests have developed which make the techni- 
cal organization of science a matter of concern. 

The pupil at this age wants to see the relevancy of 
what he studies to life — his own or that of society. He 
is feeling for his adjustment, groping toward it rather 
blindly, and he is interested in everything that throws 



150 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

light upon the interests and activities of men, the joys, 
the problems, and the sorrows of life. He needs to 
feel himself out and find what sort of being he is, he 
needs to test his powers and capacities and to discover 
his vocational aptitudes. Hence the need of an en- 
riched curriculum and a method of instruction that 
brings to him rapidly and vividly the riches of experi- 
ence which the various subjects of study contain. 
Everything should have something of the tang both 
of realism and of idealism and not get lost in the techni- 
calities and symbols which delight the trained scholar. 
Utilize the impulse to hero worship and the strong 
tendency to idealism to quicken and build up the moral 
life. Let literature, history, science, and biography 
do their part. Here can be found many impressive 
concrete illustrations of noble achievement and 'of 
signal service that inspire the youth to do his best. 
In the period of early adolescence many young people 
can be saved from the blind devotion to lower ideals 
that are so common in the practical world by which 
they are surrounded. In study they can get a wider 
outreach and vision of life and its activities, and thus 
they can get an enriched experience of the great values 
and concerns of life. The social nature which is ex- 
panding rapidly at this period must get its recognition 
in the work of the school. Let the pupil get a sym- 
pathetic insight into the fundamental problems of 



THE CHILD 151 

society through concrete studies of civic, business, and 
humanitarian institutions. Help him to back up his 
ideaHstic social enthusiasms with enlightened con- 
ceptions. Let him see that both intelligence and 
moral ideals must not merely exist but actually func- 
tion in the reconstruction and regeneration of society. 
Perhaps no period in the whole school life of the child 
is so fraught with high possibilities in the permanent 
trend that can be given to the life of the spirit — the 
moral, sesthetic, social, and intellectual interests. 

Summary 

Modern thought attaches positive value to childhood. Child- 
hood is not merely a preparatory stage ; it is a period having rights 
and needs of its own and to be lived fully and richly. The home 
and the school must meet the needs of child life at every stage. 
The curriculum is not the center about which everything else 
revolves, neither is the child such a center. Both have to be taken 
into account in the educative process. While respecting the 
nature and rights of the child and seeking to meet actual and 
present needs, the materials and subject matter of education must 
be so selected and organized as to insure increasing socialization 
of the individual. 

Infancy, while a handicap at the beginning, is a great gain in 
the end. Prolongation of infancy has carried in its train the higher 
intelligence of man and the evolution of society and morals. The 
period of plasticity is one of educability, and it is important that 
it should be utilized more fully for schooling as the problem of 
adjustment to the modern world increases in complexity and 
diflSculty. 



152 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

The needs of children change with growth and development. 
To understand them aright and meet them properly, we have to 
know what is most significant in each period of the child's life. 
The characteristic changes that take place may best be interpreted 
if we employ the functional principle of relation to growth in indi- 
vidual control and in social adjustment. We need also to remem- 
ber that both physical and mental activity are determined by the 
law of diffusion and that all conscious processes are subject to the 
law of motor flow. Hence there is larger spontaneity and lack of 
restraint in children than in adults. 

The pre-school period is one of growth in control of crude mus- 
cular coordinations, fundamental sense-perception processes, and 
the simplest social relations. 

The kindergarten-primary period is marked by fuller and freer 
use of the larger muscular coordinations and the beginning of 
control of the more delicate and skilled activities. Imagination 
develops rapidly, giving dramatic character to play and construc- 
tion and strong interest in stories. This makes possible a wider, 
richer, and more unified experience, but thought processes are 
more or less spontaneous and emotional rather than reflective and 
controlled. Instruction should stress function rather than tech- 
nique, enrichment of experience rather than acquisition of symbols. 
Yet the needs of self-expression should expand sufficiently in this 
period to make necessary the beginning of control of the symbols 
of reading, writing, number, and drawing. Personality is highly 
spontaneous and suggestible, but individuality, aggressiveness, 
and self-assertion indicate growth of will. The simple and funda- 
mental social adjustments that lie at the basis of all future conduct 
should be grounded in this period. 

The period of the middle grades is one of growth in control of 
skilled motor processes and of the more practical control of the 
imagination as exhibited in the ability to distinguish more clearly 
between means and ends of action and to diminish spontaneity 
in favor of order and organization. Enrichment of experience 



THE CHILD 153 

should still be emphasized in instruction, but memorizing, drill, 
and the mastery of symbols and technique may be increasingly 
stressed. Thinking goes on best in limited concrete situations, 
and the method of projects and problems is likely to be best suited 
to this age. The social life is marked by the gang and the clique, 
a strong tendency to hero worship, and a new sense of honor which 
develops out of the gang life. 

During the junior and senior high school period the primary 
adolescent changes take place. The physical, mental, and social 
life is reconstructed to conform ultimately to the adult type. 
Body and mind are highly plastic for a time, and pupils are highly 
responsive to suggestion and responsive to new ideas, customs, and 
ideals, especially as these reflect the larger social environment. 
Instruction should be illuminating and inspirational, tending to 
meet the rapidly developing needs of adolescents for a larger 
understanding of the higher things of life and helping them to find 
their adjustment to the world in which they are soon to play a part. 
Because of the larger maturity of thought, increasing attention 
should be given to the rationalization of science, conduct, and the 
social attitude. Idealism and hero worship are strong tendencies 
and should be utilized to make personal and social the moral and 
religious life. Adolescence means a new chance for every person, 
and schooling should utilize the period more fully for the interests 
of the higher life of the individual and of society. 



SUPPLEMENTABY READINGS 

Addams, Jane, The Spirit of Youth and the City Streets. 

Ames, Edward S., Psychology of Religious Experience, Part 3. 

Bancroft, Jessie H., The Posture of School Children, 

CoE, George A., Education in Religion and Morals, Part 2, Chs. 

12-15. 
Dewey, John, The Child and the Curriculum, 



154 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

FisKE, John, Meaning of Infancy (Riverside Educational Mono- 
graph). 

FoRBUSH, William B., The Boy and His Gang, 

FoRBUSH, William B., The Boy Problem. 

Hall, G. Stanley, Youth : Its Education and Regimen, 

Johnson, Franklin W., Problems of Boyhood. 

King, Irving, The High School Age. 

KiRKPATRiCK, Edwin A., Fundamentals of Child Study, 

KiRKPATRiCK, Edwin A., The Individual in the Making. 

McKeever, William A., Farm Boys and Girls. 

Monroe, Paul, Principles of Secondary Education, Ch. 7. Psy- 
chology and Hygiene of Adolescence (by Guy Montrose Whip- 
ple) ; Ch. 8, Moral and Religious Education (by Edward O. 
Sisson) . 

Partridge, G. E., Genetic Philosophy of Education, Chs. 7 and 14. 

RowE, Stuart H., Physical Nature of the Child. 

Sandiford, Peter, Mental and Physical Life of School Children, 

Swift, Edgar James, Mind in the Making, Chs. 1-3. 

Swift, Edgar James, Youth and the Race, Chs. 2, 3, and 7. 

Tanner, Amy E., The Child. 

Terman, Lewis M., Hygiene of the School Child, 

Tyler, John M., Growth and Education. 



CHAPTER IV 
THE CURRICULUM 

Where does the subject matter of education come from? 
How does it develop? What light does its origin throw 
on its nature and function? Do the various classes of 
knowledge alone constitute the curriculum ? or do we teach 
other things? What is the functional interpretation of 
the curriculum? Why, from the functional point of view, 
can the curriculum not be regarded as fixed and final ? What 
is the relation of the teacher to the curriculum? what the 
relation of the pupil? By what tests shall the value of 
subject matter be judged? What is meant by the liberal 
element in the curriculum? what by the vocational? 
Are they mutually exclusive? Can the curriculum be uti- 
lized as an aid in vocational selection and guidance ? How 
shall it be administered to avoid "blind alley" forms of 
education ? 

Origin and Nature of the Subject Matter of 
Education 

The subject matter of education is not a body of 
material purposely invented for school use or to ac- 
complish certain disciplinary effects. It is rather 
something that has evolved in the process of human 

155 



156 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

experience and has been selected and perpetuated be- 
cause of its value in meeting needs. 

Primitive subject matter. 

This may be illustrated in a simple case of primitive 
life, such as that of the American Indian, Among 
other things, the Indian needed food. He found cer- 
tain supplies of food in the animal life of forest ajid 
plain. Because of his interest in them as sources of 
supply for food, not to mention other interests, the 
habits, dispositions, physical strength and endurance 
of the animals became a matter of concern to him. 
He had to know all that he could about them. And 
what he found out was so valuable in his hunting 
and fishing and trapping that he passed this knowl- 
edge on to his companions and his children. The 
virtues of courage, endurance, and patience were 
essential to the success of his hunting and fighting; 
so he came naturally to magnify these qualities, to 
try to realize them in his own life, and to inculcate 
them in his children. Skill in the use of weapons — 
precision of aim, quickness and force of thrust were so 
important that he could not fail to learn their value 
and try to attain them. Under very simple condi- 
tions of life there was little occasion to teach such things 
as these. The motives for learning them were very 
close to the lives of all. The opportunity to learn 



THE CURRICULUM 157 

them through direct participation and imitation was 
ever present. Nevertheless there was a very vital 
educative process going on, and there was a very 
definite and specific content of education. The sub- 
ject matter of the education of the Indians was the 
kind of knowledge, habits, skills, and ideals that had 
value to them in meeting the needs of their lives as 
individuals and as members of the tribe. In so far 
as there was any such thing as education in science 
and religion, its subject matter also arose within the 
experience of the group and was strictly relevant to 
the meeting of their needs in understanding the mys- 
teries of the world in which they lived and in con- 
trolling their behavior aright with reference to them. 

Development of subject matter. 

As with the Indian and other primitive people, 
so it is with every stage in the evolution of civilization. 
There is a body of subject matter of education that 
grows up within the experience of the group and is 
very intimately related to their life activities. So 
long as the conditions of life* are simple, this body of 
subject matter does not get differentiated out clearly 
as something to be organized into a curriculum to be 
followed in teaching the young. It is not necessary 
to do this ; the conditions of life itself furnish both the 
motivation for learning and the agencies through 



158 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

which learning takes place. Yet, even at a compara- 
tively early stage of social progress there is likely to 
appear over and above the subject matter that is easily 
learned in daily intercourse, also a body of traditional 
material preserved in story, song, and ritual that re- 
ceives specific attention, and care is taken to see that 
it is transmitted either to all or to a special social 
class. This is all material that has, or did have in 
the beginning, some significance to the tribe. It was 
originally selected with reference to specific needs — 
the stimulation of courage in youth through the por- 
trayal of the deeds of the fathers, the preservation of 
secrets of medicine, the tribal customs of marriage, 
the rites and ceremonies of religion designed to honor 
ancestors and to placate hostile spirits. 

With progress in civilization to higher levels, such 
as those of Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, Phoenicia, etc., 
the arts of life and scientific interests developed to the 
point that there were considerable bodies of knowledge, 
of special techniques and skills, and of ideals of individ- 
ual and social life. The subject matter that met the 
needs of these civilizaticfns was more extensive, more 
specialized, and less likely to be learned by all the people 
without special agencies for its propagation. In most 
cases, the attempt was made only to preserve the more 
specialized types of knowledge by small groups of 
those specially initiated into the secrets of wisdom. 



THE CURRICULUM 159 

But the principle we are illustrating is the same — the 
subject matter of education originates within the ex- 
perience of the group, meeting needs that are real to 
that group. Hence we expect it to be different in 
certain respects for the various types of civilization. 
No subject matter is educative, from this point of view, 
unless it is relevant to the evolving experience of the 
individuals concerned. It must function in experi- 
ence to produce some change that will add to the power 
to meet the needs of life. 

Subject matter of education not confined to knowledge. 

We have gone far enough with the analysis of the 
origin and nature of the curriculum to see that the 
elements that get incorporation into the subject matter 
of education are those which have specific value for 
life under the conditions that prevail at any given 
time or in any special organization of society. If 
this is a correct interpretation, then it has a very im- 
portant bearing on our conception of the content and 
the function of the curriculum. We are altogether 
too prone to think of the subject matter of education 
wholly in terms of certain bodies of knowledge to be 
taught to children. But the values of life that every 
age and every nation have sought to perpetuate and 
to pass on to the rising generation include much more 
than specific bodies of fact. They include certain skills, 



160^ EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

habits, ^virtues, and ideals. These are as important to 
individual and social welfare as the knowledge of arith- 
metic, geography, grammar, and other subjects that 
we emphasize so strongly. Skill of the hand in writing, 
in drawing, in the manipulation of tools and mate- 
rials, and skill in the control of certain standard men- 
tal processes are essential to the man who is to face 
the conditions of the modern world with confidence. 
There are right habits of speech — clear articulation, 
modulation of the voice, etc. — that make a vast 
difference in certain situations in life. Teachers should 
make it their business to teach these things as well as 
to teach the recognition of words in the reader. There 
are habits of personal bearing, of promptness, of 
neatness, of accuracy, etc., that have a definite social 
value. The virtues of courage, of patience, of persist- 
ence, of regard for the rights of others, of obedience, 
of self-reliance are all things to be inculcated. They 
belong in the curriculum of instruction whether speci- 
fied or not. So it is with the great ideals, such as those 
of religious toleration, freedom of thought, democracy, 
individual rights, social justice, etc. These ideals 
have not been attained without bloody struggle in the 
past. It would be a crime against posterity to let them 
disintegrate and die out. They represent fundamental 
social values of greater importance than the knowl- 
edge of a vocation or the preservation of any specific 



THE CURRICULUM 161 

kind of knowledge. They must be viewed as things 
to be reproduced through education in the Hves of 
children. Closely related to ideals, and not easily 
distinguished from them, are attitudes and sentiments, 
such as reverence for age and for authority, sympathy 
for the needy, the suffering, and the wronged, senti- 
ments of patriotism and of international brotherhood. 
Perhaps some would call these things educational 
aims or educational values, rather than deJBnite por- 
tions of the subject matter of education. But there 
is a decided advantage in thinking of them also as 
belonging in the curriculun of the school ; for they are 
much more likely to get the attention that they de- 
serve. We tend to think of the curriculum too much 
in terms of examinable results that can be determined 
by written tests. With the development of experi- 
mental pedagogy, tests for the measurement of prog- 
ress in the mastery of certain skills, habits, and special 
techniques have tended to throw emphasis upon these 
as things to be striven for, as parts of the curriculum 
as truly as bodies of fact. This is good as far as it 
goes. But we need a much more comprehensive 
conception still of the content of education — one that 
will include all the classes of values the attainment 
of which makes better men and women. The lines 
drawn between aims, values, and subject matter may 
be useful for the purpose of our thinking ; but, in the 



162 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

process of teaching, these things all merge into one 
another until from the functional point of view there 
is no psychological distinction between them. In a 
given life situation, or class of situations, the inculca- 
tion of an ideal or a sentiment may meet the need just 
as truly as in a set of constructive activities the knowl- 
edge of the table of linear measure will meet the need 
of that situation. The inculcation of the ideal may not 
be accomplished by the same methods of instruction, 
perhaps we cannot apply the word "teach" to it at 
all ; but the ideal is just as truly a part of the subject 
matter of education as the facts of arithmetic. If it 
is not so conceived, it is altogether too likely to get 
lost in a wraithlike fringe, and responsibility for its 
inculcation will sit very lightly upon the entire teach- 
ing and supervisory staff of the school. 

Functional Interpretation of the Curriculum 

Subject matter to meet needs of life. 

Our discussion of the origin and nature of the cur- 
riculum implies that subject matter is functional. 
It represents selection of values — knowledge, skills, 
ideals — on the basis of their relevancy, or worth, 
to the individual and to the group. There is no 
absolute standard for the content of the curriculum. 
In the primitive era, the knowledge of woodcraft 



THE CURRICULUM 163 

and the habits of wild animals, together with skill 
in fishing, hunting, and trapping, were very important 
to the life of the tribe. To-day they have little value 
except in isolated communities living under pioneer 
conditions. Even the pioneer virtues inherent in phys- 
ical courage have given way largely to the ideals of 
law. In the Middle Ages, the arts of war and the 
ideals of chivalry were the big things in the lives of 
the knights; scholarship, theology, and religion were 
the things of supreme concern to the clergy and the 
learned class ; and the secrets of craftsmanship and of 
business were perpetuated and propagated among the 
industrial and commercial classes of the free cities. 
In each social group the things that were explicitly 
taught or unconsciously assimilated were those which 
were of most value to them. The three medieval 
classes, though contemporary, had radically different 
educational ideals and practices because their respec- 
tive methods of life called for radically different bodies 
of subject matter. Thus we have the education of 
chivalry for the knights and nobility, the seven liberal 
arts and theology for the clergy and scholars, and the 
guild and burgher schools for the craftsmen and mer- 
chants. 

Another illustration of this functional principle of 
selection and adaptation of subject matter is seen in 
the history of Latin as a subject of study. In the early 



164 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

Middle Ages, Latin had no value for either knights or 
craftsmen. In the unsettled social conditions that 
prevailed, it could not function in their lives. The 
problems which confronted them had to be met through 
means to which Latin made little or no contribution. 
But, with improved social conditions, making for 
wider social intercourse in the later Middle Ages, we 
find the need of Latin becoming more pressing. The 
nobility studied it because of its value for wider politi- 
cal and diplomatic intercourse, and the craftsmen and 
merchants because it was necessary in their widen- 
ing business relationships. As the universal language 
of religion, law, diplomacy, literature, and scholar- 
ship, it inevitably became the central subject of study 
in the schools of the later Middle Ages. It was a 
necessity of life rather than of mental discipline. The 
Renaissance, with its fuller discovery of the glorious 
past of Greece and Rome, and its quickening of the 
human interests and imagination, focused attention 
still more strongly upon the Latin language. This 
was both natural and legitimate. The Greek and 
Latin classics met a need of the humanistic awakening 
that np other body of subject matter could do so well. 
It was for their inherent value that they were first 
studied and not for some mystical conception of their 
disciplinary value. They had a social content superior 
to that of any other literature of that time and conse- 



THE CURRICULUM 165 

quently most useful for that stage of social and in- 
tellectual progress. They were for the people of the 
early Renaissance functional to the core. If we follow 
the law of changing social conditions in its effect upon 
the curriculum, we shall expect the position of Latin 
in the curriculum to change with the change in its pos- 
sible social function. Long since, it has ceased to be 
the universal language of religion, it has been super- 
seded in diplomacy and international usage by French 
and English, and in scholarship and literature the 
native tongues of the great nations have assumed 
first place. With the decline in the social function of 
Latin in the real world of human interest and human 
activities, its value as subject matter of education has 
likewise declined. This is reflected in the relatively 
larger prominence in thought and practice given in 
our schools to the mother tongue, the sciences, history, 
and modern literature, — subjects which reflect more 
fully the interests and activities of the world of to- 
day. Whether Latin still has a value that justifies 
any place for it in the curriculum is a question reserved 
for a later discussion. We have used the study of 
Latin at this point merely to emphasize the functional 
nature of subject matter and the consequent law of 
its adaptation to changing social conditions. 



166 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

Subject matter not static. 

The outcome of our discussion of the functional 
nature of the subject matter of education is to throw 
into rehef another great principle, namely, that no 
curriculum can be a fixed, static, final thing. No man, 
or group of men, however learned and expert, can 
draw up an educational curriculum that shall be good 
for all times and places. With changes in social, 
moral, and industrial conditions, new values appear 
and old values disintegrate and often vanish entirely. 
The basis of the curriculum changes continually with 
the progress of society. The children of to-day need 
to know many things which were unknown to anybody 
a generation ago ; they need to have certain kinds of 
skill and to form certain habits of life and of thought 
that could not have been anticipated by their fathers, 
and even the virtues change in their content if not 
in their basic principles. 

; What has been said about the plastic character of 
subject matter from the social standpoint is true of it 
also from the individual angle. Modern psychology 
and biology have recently given tremendous emphasis 
to the principle of individual differences. The needs 
of people are not all alike because their original natures 
are different in fundamental capacities and tendencies. 
The subject matter that is suited to one may not be 



THE CURRICULUM 167 

best suited to another. In the delicate problem of 
taking adequate account of the individual pupil, there 
is no such thing as a fixed and final body of subject 
matter. There has to be a great deal of selection and 
adjustment according to varying needs. 

Danger of conceiving of the curriculum as final. 

Unless we get a thoroughgoing functional conception 
of the curriculum, we are apt to think of it as a spe- 
cial construct that has been devised by wise men for 
disciplinary purposes, for self -development of pupils, 
or for special moral ends — a body of subject matter 
that we must accept just as it is on the authority of 
wise men; or we are likely to take it just as it comes 
to us from the tradition of the past. In either case, 
it will have a finality that defeats its own purposes. 
This has been seen in the extreme authoritative accept- 
ance of the kindergarten curriculum of Froebel in 
some places. The changed social environment and 
the radically different home life of American children 
as compared with the German children whom Froebel 
knew did not suffice to suggest any change in kinder- 
garten materials or methods. The same thing is seen 
from the traditional angle in the survival long past 
the period of their social value of portions of arithmetic 
devoted to compound interest, annual interest, etc. 
When subject matter lingers in the curriculum past 



168 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

the period of its utility, there is a tendency to justify 
it on some other grounds, such as that of its discipl' - 
ary value. This is an artificial standard instead c^ t. 
natural one. As soon as it is admitted as valid, t' 3re 
is likely to ensue a dangerous isolation of the sf ?! 
from the life for which it is ostensibly preparir its 
pupils. 

According to the principles of functional p? chol- 
ogy, we prepare best for the work of life out e of 
school by setting up in school those bonds con- 
nection between situations and the approp^ e re- 
sponses to them which we want to contin e when 
children leave school. This means that tb subject 
matter of school must be identical and continuous 
with the subject matter of life. If we tl ^V of the 
curriculum as a finality, as an end in itr e are 

likely to allow it to become narrow in .xitent, 

whereas life in the modern world is so m ny-sided as 
to call for the utmost possible enrichment of the sub- 
ject matter of education. The curriculum ought to 
bring the pupil into contact with the world in which 
he lives at many vital points. For this reason we 
cannot waste time and energy on materials and values 
that no longer perform any useful function. 



THE CURRICULUM 169 

Relation of Teacher and Pupil to the 
Curriculum 

I so far as the curriculum represents the most 
scii tific selection of the fundamental values of civi- 
liza ion at any time, it furnishes the teacher with ma- 
terials for use that have already been selected, evalu- 
ated, and organized. In so far as activities can be 
initial i and problems developed which call for this 
materi ', the teacher may know that he is on the right 
track. The curriculum, like a map, becomes the guide 
to poss ble experiences; also it indicates what kinds 
of exper'ence are most worth while. But it does not 
follow th t subject matter can be imposed on the un- 
ready puT .5 any more than that a map will have value 
for the u atored savage. The curriculum only sug- 
gests to th ' teacher material that may have value, or 
which may e drawn upon, in helping to meet the needs 
of the child. What portions of it shall be used, and 
in what way, remains a further problem. This has 
to be determined by a knowledge of the stage of de- 
velopment of the pupil's experience and an understand- 
ing of his needs, interests, and moving tendencies. 
In the hands of the teacher subject matter must be 
plastic, capable of being shaped freely to perform its 
part in meeting the specific situations that arise. As 
a teacher, I must know what the trend of life is in any 



170 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

particular case, and I must ask the question, What 
have I in the way of subject matter that can be used 
to minister to growth? Or, what have I that will 
turn my pupils aside into more fruitful lines of develop- 
ment ? In so far as the teacher can apply the principle 
of respecting the individuality of the particular pupil, 
what has been said regarding the use of subject matter 
for the class, or group, should be observed also in deal- 
ing with the individual. 

Tests of the Value of Subject Matter 
Relevancy to social and individual needs." 

The principles in accordance with which the value 
of subject matter is to be determined are implicit in 
the whole trend of our previous discussion. To be 
admitted to the curriculum any subject must stand 
the test of both social and individual function. It 
must be material that is actually relevant to the pres- 
ent world, and it must be material that can and will 
under school conditions function in the present lives 
of pupils. The projects and the problems of the school 
must be real in two senses of the word. They must 
reflect the interests, problems, and values of the social 
environment; and they must grow out of and be 
relevant to the expanding experience of pupils. 



THE CURRICULUM 171 

Illustrations from the elementary school curriculum. 

We have put reading, writing, and arithmetic into 
the curriculum of the elementary school because they 
represent fundamental activities of life in the modern 
world; but we have not always selected the content 
of these subjects with a view to meeting the real needs 
of children at the various stages of development. We 
have put geography, history, and civics into the middle 
and higher grades because geographic, historical, and 
civic knowledge have a very significant social value ; 
but sometimes the subject matter has been selected 
from the adult point of view and the attempt has 
been made to impose it upon the pupils from without. 
When manual training, domestic science, music, and 
art claim admission to the elementary school curric- 
ulum, there is protest from those who think of educa- 
tion in terms of general discipline. The only reply 
that can be made is from the angle of their social and 
individual values. Do these subjects represent in- 
terests and activities that are fundamental and legit- 
imate in modern life ^ Do they meet the actual needs 
of pupils in the growth of their experience ? If so, they 
belong in the curriculum. Those things that are of 
most general and fundamental importance to society 
and at the same time serve to enrich the experience of 
all people should be required subjects in the curriculum. 



172 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

But, when subjects have once been selected for a 
place in the curriculum, there is a still further problem. 
We must ask of every topic and part of the subject mat- 
ter the same critical questions of value. Arithmetic 
belongs in the elementary school curriculum ; are we 
sure that everything that gets into the textbooks 
belongs there .^^ When we begin to ask such a ques- 
tion, when we begin to put every particle of subject 
matter in arithmetic under the searchlight of criticism, 
then radical reconstructions begin to take place. Top- 
ics like compound partnership, compound interest, 
and cube root vanish. Their value was either tradi- 
tional or purely disciplinary ; they could not stand the 
test of individual and social function. , 

The application of these tests means the simplifica- 
tion of all the elementary school subjects, a tremendous 
elimination of nonessentials. It means likewise a larger 
sense of their reality, a stronger motivation for their 
study, and a firmer grasp and control of fundamental 
values. It means a larger amount of time also for the 
enrichment, without overcrowding, which is required 
of a curriculum to meet the needs of to-day. Subject 
matter is less likely to be conceived in structural terms 
and is more likely to be thought of in terms of rele- 
vancy, use, function. Dividing lines between subjects 
tend to get blurred, and we think more of the various 
kinds of vital experiences. Consequently there is a 



THE CURRICULUM 173 

growing tendency to reconstruct the elementary school 
curriculum around a few centers of vital experience 
which call for the development of knowledge, skills, 
and ideals that are needed in the modern world, in- 
stead of starting out with a large number of different 
subjects which emphasize primarily certain series of 
fact relationships. 

Illustrations from the high school curriculum. 

The high school curriculum also must be subjected 
to criticism in the light of the same principles. No 
subject can claim recognition solely on the basis of 
authority or tradition. Not even its claim to dis- 
ciplinary value will save it if it is found lacking in re- 
lationship to the activities and interests of the modern 
world. ''By their fruits ye shall know them," whether 
the subject be Latin, geometry, physics, literature, or 
manual training. And the fruits that we demand are 
those that will feed us now. It is not sufficient to issue 
blanket claims as to their value; what we demand 
is a bill of particulars. We want to know precisely 
what they contribute to the interpretation or control 
of the various forces of the world in which we live. 

We might take the subject of Latin again for illustra- 
tive purposes. It still occupies a very large place in 
the high school curriculum of the United States, partic- 
ularly in the East. Does it owe this place to the force 



174 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

of the inertia of tradition, or is it justified? That is 
a difficult question to answer. It is a more complex 
problem than it appears to be either to its devotees 
or its enemies. Its enemies are prone to dismiss the 
subject with a wave of the hand as one that has no prac- 
tical value merely because Latin is a dead language. 
Its devotees are sometimes so blindly given over to 
the doctrine of its disciplinary value that they tolerate 
no suggestions as to reconstruction either of content 
or of method so as to make the study of real present 
value. Latin has a real value for the present in its 
relation to our own language. It is, to be sure, a lan- 
guage no longer spoken; but it still lives in what it 
has contributed to English. Let the reader look 
back over this printed page and he will find two or 
three words of Latin origin in every line. Latin, then, 
has some practical value in the study of our own lan- 
guage. Whether or not one gets a better grip on his 
own language through the study of Latin is largely 
a matter of chance, unless it is taught with this spe- 
cific intention. The connections must be made ; that is 
a part of the business of teaching. The Latin element 
in our vocabulary must be studied to secure the full 
value of Latin as a subject in the curriculum. There is 
probably no better place in which to come to an under- 
standing of the ideas, or functions, of grammatical 
relationships than in the study of Latin. But instead 



THE CURRICULUM 175 

of getting this one may get simply a jargon of endings 
and special forms. It depends on the method of in- 
struction and the specific intent of the teacher whether 
the universal ideas of grammar which lie back of all 
the forms are grasped and made a means of understand- 
ing English better. Possibly these language values 
of Latin might be realized in some other way; the 
fact remains, however, that they may be realized from 
the study of this subject, and this may justify its 
retention in the curriculum on an elective basis. Can 
we say anything for the social value of Latin ? Could 
society get along just as well if nobody knew the Latin 
tongue .f^ Certainly it cannot be maintained that it 
plays the same part in the life of the real world that 
it did when it was the universal language of religion, 
scholarship, law, and diplomacy. But there are cer- 
tain specialized interests of society that are still served 
by a knowledge of Latin. Society still needs people 
who can maintain* the continuity of knowledge between 
the past and the present. In many fields of historical 
research a knowledge of Latin is still essential. There 
is a social value attaching to the study of words and 
phrases which have their roots in the past. There 
are studies in the life and customs of more primitive 
ages that throw light upon fundamental sociological 
and psychological principles. The preservation of 
the choicest folklore, literature, and philosophy of 



176 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS^^F LIFE 

\ - 
the ancients makes it necessary that some people be 

trained to keep in touch with original sources and be 
capable of translating from the original directly into 
the modern tongues. Thus Latin has asocial function 
still; but it is a highly specialized one. It can be 
realized through the training of a compa^tively small 
group who shall serve the function of exerts in this 
field of knowledge. To secure these experts for the 
need of society, it is probably safe to assume that we 
do not need to put any special pressure upon the stu- 
dent body to pursue the study of Latin. An adequate 
number will be supplied from those who B^ve special 
linguistic abilities and tastes which will lea^d them to 
elect the subject in high school and college. If any 
others should need this knowledge for some calling 
in which it still has a technical value, th6 chances are 
that they will discover this need soon enough in the 
course of their preparation to be able to meet it. In 
this respect the value of Latin is to be determined on 
the same basis as the value of chemistry, of Chinese, 
or of trigonometry. On the social side there is but 
one ruling principle for all the different kinds of sub- 
ject matter, that is, their worth to society and the 
necessity of adequate provision to meet the social 
need. 

In the case of history and civics, the same prin- 
ciple applies ; but the need is more universal than it 



THE CURRICULUM 177 

is in the case of Latin or trigonometry. Intelligent 
citizenship is so essential to the life of a democracy 
that it cannot be left to the decision of the indi- 
vidual entirely whether he shall study the subjects 
that contribute to training in the ideals, principles, 
and virtues of citizenship. Hence these subjects 
become common elements in the training of all ; they 
are made compulsory subjects in the curriculum of 
the elementary and high schools of the country. 

Enrichment of life as a test of value. 

Another test of the value of subject matter is to be 
found in the contribution it makes to the life of the 
individual. There are many things that enrich the 
life of the individual for which we can find little direct 
social value. Undoubtedly our contribution to the 
work of the world is affected in some way by the whole 
self, everything and all that we are makes a difference 
somewhere. In the ultimate, the health, happiness, 
and character of the man have social significance. 
At the same time, there are bodies of subject matter 
of education for which it would be difficult to point 
out in specific terms any social justification for their 
study on the part of any considerable number of people. 
It does not follow, however, that their study is not 
justified on the part of any who want to pursue them. 
Take astronomy for an illustration. How many people 



178 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

need to know the facts of astronomy in order that 
social needs may be met, or even for practical purposes 
of their own? Yet all people who have the power 
of thought want to know something about the stars. 
The heavenly bodies appeal to the imagination and 
they challenge thought. As human beings there is 
satisfaction coming to us from an understanding 
of their mystery. What a pity it is that the natural 
curiosity of the child regarding them is so early side- 
tracked or stifled ! For the child who wants to know 
about the stars, or the rocks, or the floating clouds 
the facts that we can give him regarding these things 
are as legitimate subject matter of education as many 
other classes of facts that we stress so strongly in the 
formal aspects of arithmetic and grammar. We do 
not need to worry about their social significance before 
we teach them. The chances are that they will have 
some such significance. They will lead to further 
questions, to the growth of scientific interest, and 
possibly to a more intelligent understanding of the 
forces of nature, the net result of which will be to de- 
stroy the power of superstition. But, without regard 
to this at the time, just as the scientist pursues his 
studies for the joy of investigating, so ought pupils 
to be permitted to undertake many projects and to 
follow up many lines of inquiry for the mere joy of 
achievement. Literature, art, and music all have 



THE CURRICULUM 179 

very great social significance ; but they are also justi- 
fied on the ground of the harmless enjoyment that 
we can get out of them. From the functional point 
of view, when we find subject matter that enriches 
the life of the individual in any legitimate respect, 
we do not need to go any farther for the test of its 
value. It has some value, it is worth while, if it meets 
any legitimate need of the individual. There may, 
of course, be the further problem of determining its 
relative value in comparison with other subjects. 

The Liberal and the Vocational Elements in the 

Curriculum 

The question of the specific bearing of the curriculum 
upon vocation does not arise until the pupil reaches the 
higher grades, normally at about twelve years of age. 
Up to that time the subject matter is selected with 
reference to its general social significance and its func- 
tion in the enrichment of fundamental experience 
and the development of the pupils. Beyond the sixth 
grade the question of subject matter that has a bearing 
on vocation becomes significant. There is a strong 
tendency at the present time to recognize the voca- 
tional demand in the junior high schooP and the regu- 

1 The Junior High School corresponds generally to the seventh, eighth, and 
ninth grades ; the Senior High School to the last three years of the traditional High 
School course. 



180 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

lar High School period. With the recent emphasis on 
vocational education, the whole question of the relation 
between the liberal and the vocational elements in the 
curriculum has been forced to the front. What do we 
mean by liberal ? what by vocational ? are they antag- 
onistic to each other, or are they complementary in 
function ? 

The vocational element. 

Until the modern industrial revolution, there was 
practically no need for the school to pay attention 
to vocational subject matter as such; though in a 
general way all secondary and college education had a 
vocational or prevocational trend in that it pointed 
toward the learned professions and public service. 
Before the industrial revolution, the trades and the 
business vocations were not so highly specialized as to 
prevent those interested in them from learning largely 
by direct methods of observation, participation, and 
imitation. This is no longer possible. In fact, observa- 
tion of the industrial and mercantile processes is now so 
difficult that many young people have no idea of the 
vocations by which they are surrounded and the 
various ways in which it is possible to earn a living in 
their immediate environment. The school, as the 
instrument of society, has therefore acquired a new 
responsibility. It has to undertake more definitely 



THE CURRICULUM 181 

the task of interpreting to children the vocational 
interests and the vocational demands of the day. Con- 
sequently the curriculum must include more vocational 
subject matter than it has ever done in the past. In 
the lower grades we see this point of view reflected in 
the introduction of manual training, domestic science, 
gardening, etc. But this material is introduced for 
its general educational value rather than for any im- 
mediate vocational intent. 

Beyond the sixth grade, it seems legitimate to in- 
troduce a more specific vocational content. By that 
time it ought to be possible to bring under control all 
the fundamentals of a general education — the neces- 
sary elements of reading, writing, arithmetic, language, 
geography, history, music, art, and a simple acquaint- 
ance with the use of the tools, materials, and processes 
of the elementary industries. As the great majority of 
children leave school at the age of fourteen, their adjust- 
ment to the world of industry by means of which they 
earn their own living and also serve society will be left 
almost wholly to chance unless they receive in school 
some vocational instruction. If their adjustment to the 
world of industry is left to chance, it has been discovered 
that a very large proportion of them drift into the " blind 
alley" occupations, and at man's estate when they 
should be ready to leave the juvenile occupation and 
earn a man's wage they are without any special equip- 



182 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

ment for an adult vocation. Hence they drift in over- 
whelming numbers into unskilled lines of labor already 
overcrowded. They are apt to swell the numbers of 
the unemployed, incapable of meeting the needs of their 
own lives adequately, and tending to become unem- 
ployables and a menace to society. 

This situation can be partially remedied, it is now 
coming to be believed, by differentiating the curriculum 
at the beginning of the junior high school period into 
several broad groups of studies, such as the manual 
arts group, the domestic science group, the commercial 
group, and the college preparatory group. It is too 
early at this stage to determine definitely what specific 
occupation the pupil shall prepare for, but he can get 
such an acquaintance with the fundamentals of some 
group of occupations that he can soon adjust himself to 
the work in any one of them in which he can find em- 
ployment. Such a conception of the vocational element 
in the curriculum would properly be called prevoca- 
tional. In this prevocational period, the curriculum 
would still have much of its general character. But the 
arithmetic, geography, history, and language of the 
commercial group, for example, would differ from the 
traditional curriculum in emphasizing the commercial 
aspect of all these subjects. The pupil would continue 
the common branches, but these would become busi- 
ness arithmetic, commercial geography, commercial and 



THE CURRICULUM 183 

industrial history, and business composition. In like 
manner, those in the college preparatory group might 
begin to specialize in some of the more elementary 
phases of high school work. Their arithmetic would 
take over some of the simpler elements of algebra and 
of concrete geometry ; their language work might be 
continued in the form of easy Latin, French, or German. 
If the pupil is to continue his education beyond the 
eighth grade, the vocational element in the curriculum 
can become more specific, if the pupil knows exactly 
what vocation he is to follow ; or he may still continue 
for a time in pre vocational and general lines of work, 
shaping his course with reference to the larger back- 
ground from which he can later make a rational choice 
of vocation. The tendency of reconstruction of the 
curriculum at this point is not definitely established yet. 
In some cases, the vocational student will go to a 
separate industrial or commercial high school ; in 
others, he will pursue a vocational course in the same 
high school with pupils following the traditional 
courses. But, however the matter is handled in any 
particular community, the fact is that we are moving 
very rapidly in the direction of a reconstruction of the 
curriculum that will recognize the vocational element 
in its pre vocational, or general, aspect in the higher 
grades and in its more specific aspect in two-year and 
four-year high school courses. In addition to this. 



184 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

there are developing all sorts of special trade and in- 
dustrial and continuation schools, which it is not neces- 
sary to discuss in this place. 

The liberal element. 

With this growing emphasis on the vocational element 
in education, what is the significance of the liberal 
element ? It is quite likely that we have to reconstruct 
to some extent our traditional notions of a liberal 
education before we can answer this question. There 
was a time when the idea of a liberal education was 
quite intimately associated with a particular group of 
studies — Latin, Greek, and mathematics. Later, the 
subjects of history, modern languages, English, and 
the natural sciences were drawn into the magic circle. 
What will the end be.^^ For one thing, although it 
may be stating the matter dogmatically, it seems as if 
we should have to say that the question of whether an 
education is liberal or not cannot be determined by the 
specific subjects, or group of subjects, in the curriculum. 
Any subject may be liberalizing for one and technical 
for another, dependent in part upon the purpose of the 
person who studies it, the method of instruction, and the 
final effects produced upon the pupil. The study of 
Latin may be liberalizing for one and strictly technical 
for another ; the study of agriculture may be liberalizing 
for the prospective journalist and technical for the 



-^ THE CURRICULUM 185 

prospective farmer. It is necessary for us to look into 
this notion of liberal and see what we may mean by it 
at the present time and in a democratic social order. 

Liberal as the setting free of the self, 

? le word liberal suggests two fundamental ideas. 
It is derived from a Latin word, liber^ which means 
free — free not in the sense of given without cost, but 
free a 5 contrasted with slave ; and we derive from the 
same oot our term liberal in the sense of broad and 
generous. The ancients had the conception that there 
was a kind of education that was especially appropriate 
for the free man, it was to fit him for the kind of life 
that a citizen, or free man, lived. In a democracy we 
have no slaves, all men are supposedly free. Hence 
the word free cannot be used in relation to a liberal 
education in the older sense. Yet this idea of freedom 
is one that is worth retaining in our conception of a 
liberal education. Freedom of the mind, of the spirit, 
of the inner capacities and powers of the individual is 
one of the great ends of education. The ignorant man 
is a slave to his environment. Only by chance pro- 
cesses, hit upon by trial-and-error methods, can he 
effect his adjustment to the forces of the world. He 
is tyrannized over by superstition, tradition, and prej- 
udice. Anything in the curriculum which stimulates 
his intelligence, broadens his outlook, rationalizes for 



186 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

him the forces of nature, quickens his insight into the 
social processes, widens his sympathies, heightens his 
ideals, puts him into more numerous and appreciative 
relations with his environment, and gives intelligent 
direction and skilled control of his activities — anything 
that does one or more of these things serves the function 
of a liberalizing element. It frees and makes effective 
the man within him. Whatever subject matter will 
do this for any one is liberalizing for him. Probably 
there is no one body of subject matter that will do this 
work adequately. But mathematics may be the central 
core for one, languages for another, sciences for a third, 
and practical arts for a fourth. The different subjects 
make different appeals to pupils of different capacities, 
powers, and temperaments. The best that there is of 
intelligence, of executive ability, of moral quality may 
be set free in different individuals by different bodies of 
subject matter. The liberalizing value is not in the 
subject matter itself but in what it does in setting free 
the best powers and capacities of the individual. The 
pupil may be a musician, a craftsman, an artist, a 
mathematician, a political or industrial leader in his 
soul ; education must set those powers free. It is 
justified in using any materials that will perform the 
function. 

In the modern world, it is essential to set free, among 
others, those powers of hand and of mind by means of 



THE CURRICULUM 187 

which one can earn a living. The days of picking up a 
living directly from the natural resources of the environ- 
ment are past, also the days of aristocratic leisure based 
on slavery. We must secure food, clothing, shelter, 
and all the things that satisfy the higher needs of the 
self by the pursuit of some vocation. Freedom from 
the constraint of nature has been achieved through 
specialization of industry and interchange of products. 
It is only in this way that human beings are free as 
compared with animals. It is a central function of 
education, then, to set free the powers and capacities 
by means of which the individual can achieve the most 
for society. Only in this way can he secure most fully 
the things which, in turn, will satisfy his own life. In- 
stead of there being any opposition between a liberal and 
a vocational education, the vocational element is from 
the functional point of view fundamental in all educa- 
tion. It is as necessary for the rich as for the poor. 
In a true democracy, no man has a right to live off 
the unearned increment. He is under obligation to 
render some sort of service in return for what he 
receives. His powers ought to be set free in the direc- 
tion of positive achievement. If he cannot achieve, 
but only spend, he is not a free man of the modern world. 
In a democracy, we have a right to expect every man to 
count one, that is the very least. The hobo is an educa- 
tional failure from one point of view, the idle rich from 



188 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

another. Neither of them has realized his possibilities, 
or set free his powers of achievement. Somewhere in 
their education ideals broke down or abilities were not 
stimulated and developed. This is not a tirade against 
the rich, but an attack on the conception of education 
for leisure and enjoyment alone. There is no innate 
right to leisure and luxury that can be transmitted by 
heredity. Democracy means cooperation, all working 
together. Each must contribute something according 
to his native capacities and his acquired capital. The 
better the laborer, the mechanic, the business man, the 
professional man are equipped for their respective 
vocations, the better it is for all of us. And the 
better trained the rich are in the matter of ideals of 
responsibility to society and in the matter of the 
methods and processes of utilizing their wealth for the 
development of industry and for the great enterprises 
of social welfare, the larger service they are likely to 
render. The point is that nobody can be liberally 
educated for life in a democracy who is not trained to 
use his powers in some one of the many possible voca- 
tions to contribute to human welfare. 

Liberal as the broad and generous. 

The term liberal as applied to education carries with 
it the idea of generous and broad. A curriculum con- 
structed strictly and narrowly with reference to the 



THE CURRICULUM 189 

vocational needs would be narrow and ungenerous 
in its provisions. The liberally educated man must 
be capable of reaching out beyond his own vocational 
activities and putting himself in touch with the world 
at many points. A man has a right to be something 
more than a cog in an industrial or professional machine, 
and this too even if that machine is run by the state. 
He is a human being, a father, a neighbor, a citizen, 
as well as a worker. The curriculum must be broad 
enough to touch every side of his life. It must in- 
clude those elements which enrich life, lift it above the 
merely animal plane, and make it worth while. No 
matter what his vocation is going to be, one child has 
just as much inherent right as another to study those 
subjects which will enable him to understand the world 
in which he lives, to appreciate the finest and best 
things of our civilization, and to utilize in the midst 
of his vocation all the means of growth that his envi- 
ronment can furnish. One criticism of the disciplinary 
conception of education is to be found at this point. 
It tends to narrow the curriculum down to a few sub- 
jects of a particular kind having intellectual, and 
especially logical, qualities. It reaches one side of 
human nature too exclusively. The tendency is to 
despise the human interests in music, art, and poetry ; 
and even in the so-called humanities — language, 
history, and literature — the element of appreciation 



190 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

has been too largely subordinated to the demand of 
rigorous mental discipline. Not until recently have 
music, art, and dramatization had a recognized place 
in the elementary school curriculum; and even at 
the present time it is very difficult in most high schools 
and colleges to get recognition for them in the curric- 
ulum on the same basis as mathematics and languages. 
There still seems to be some deep-seated prejudice 
against them growing out of the fact that they do not 
yield the same examinable results that we have become 
accustomed to demand under the disciplinary con- 
ception of education. A truly liberal education would 
be broad in the sense that not only would it go beyond 
the demands of vocational needs but also of so-called 
disciplinary values. Is it not a curious commentary 
on our so-called liberal arts courses in colleges, leading 
to a Bachelor of Arts degree, that they make almost 
no place for the fine arts ? 

Relation between the vocational and the liberal elements. 

From the point of view that we have developed, 
there is no necessary contradiction between the liberal 
and the vocational elements in the curriculum. Func- 
tion determines whether we shall call a subject liberal 
or vocational. The same subject may perform both 
functions. Agriculture may be studied primarily with 
the intent to put its principles to practice; it is then 



THE CURRICULUM 191 

vocational. But the person who studies it may also 
receive a setting free of his highest powers and capaci- 
ties of mind, of hand, and of heart. It may be the 
center from which he reaches out, with a vital interest 
and a growing grip, to many related subjects. If he 
follows it up at all closely in its ramifications, it is 
likely to lead him into many of the fundamental prob- 
lems of biology, chemistry, and physics, as well as 
into the problems of finance (through marketing and 
banking) and of taxation. It may easily lead him out 
into a study of the whole social problem of the present 
day through the interrelations of agriculture with 
the industries and the lives of all the people of all 
parts of the nation. There is no inherent reason why 
it should not be as cultural, as liberalizing a study as 
Latin or any modern language; it may illuminate 
life and broaden the mind and its sympathies even 
more, if taught with reference to its liberalizing value. 
It all depends on what it actually does for the individual 
in setting his soul free and in expanding and enriching 
his life whether it is a liberal subject or not. On the 
other hand, it is perfectly possible that the study of 
Latin or of German or of mathematics may have a 
very limited value from the same point of view. We 
have all probably seen pupils of whom it could be 
said of their classical and mathematical studies, "The^^ 
never touched him." Still others have literally trod 



193 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

the heights as they reveled in the beauty of the Greek 
tongue, in the oratory of Cicero, or the logical per- 
fection of a demonstration in geometry. The classics 
have been to many the introduction to all the beauty 
of literature, of art, and of philosophy. The chances 
are that almost any subject may become the center 
from which somebody will reach out with a vital in- 
terest to the larger world of which this subject reflects 
but a part. The more such centers of vital outreach 
the pupil can have the more likely is he to secure a 
broad and generous education. The more such cen- 
ters of interest from which he will eagerly and actively 
test his powers the more likely is he to set those powers 
free and bring them under control. The curriculum 
should be rich and varied enough to perform both of 
these liberalizing functions. If the vocational sub- 
jects add further centers of liberalization they should 
be welcomed by the advocates of a liberal education. 
The more fully powers are set free and tested the more 
likely is the curriculum to have vocational value. 
So the liberalizing and the vocational functions may 
meet and cooperate in the same body of subject matter. 

The Curriculum as a Factor in Vocational 
Guidance 

The discovery of the fact that so many juvenile 
laborers get into blind alley jobs, spending the most 



THE CURRICULUM 193 

valuable years of their plasticity, from fourteen to 
eighteen, in getting nowhere vocationally, has em- 
phasized in recent years the need of vocational guid- 
ance and vocational education. One of the best 
agencies for determining vocational fitness is the 
school curriculum, if it is rightly organized and ad- 
ministered. Under the old regime, not yet so very 
far away, it had comparatively little value in this re- 
spect because of its narrowness. It was more like a 
sieve which was vigorously shaken to get rid of all 
but one kind of grain. Those who were of an intel- 
lectual type, or of a certain intellectual type, remained 
in the sieve and were promoted from grade to grade and 
from school to school, receiving the benefits of a pro- 
longed education. The rest could take their chances 
in life with the limited equipment furnished by the 
lower grades and the lower schools. Under this pro- 
cedure there was a sort of vocational guidance, a guid- 
ance of the limited few into the learned professions 
and the higher technical pursuits ; but little was done 
to discover the positive tendencies and abilities of the 
many and to guide them into the paths of greatest 
usefulness to themselves and to society. We are now 
beginning to see how unjust that school procedure was 
to the individual and how wasteful it was for society. 
Why cannot the many find in the test of the curricu- 
lum something positive as well as the few ? They can, 



194 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

if the curriculum is broad enough, rich enough, and 
plastic enough.^ There ought to be varied enough 
materials to test all kinds of abilities, to enable all 
kinds of boys and girls to find out what is the trend 
and character of their capacities, and to set free and 
train the varied powers of youth. It is often more 
important from this point of view to change a pupil's 
course of study in the middle of it, if it is not finding 
him, if its results are negative, than it is to insist on 
his continuing until graduation or complete failure sim- 
ply because he started on that course. Some pupils 
reveal quite readily their natural abilities; in the 
case of others they have to be found through repeated 
processes of elimination, or of trial and failure. If a 
curriculum is rich and varied enough, usually it will 
not take very long to discover the trend of inclination 
and ability, and hence the line of training will be dis- 
covered that will lead to one group, or class, of voca- 
tions rather than another. Along with this function 
of discovering capacities, setting them free, and test- 
ing them, the curriculum may be used to serve another 
vocational function. The curriculum must reflect 
the interests and activities of the real world fully 
enough to give the pupil some idea of how he may best 
use his own powers in the work of life. In other words, 
the curriculum should be an instrument to help him 
find his adaptation to the world, his adjustment to 



THE CURRICULUM 195 

life's work. It is better that he discover his adapta- 
tion to Hfe's work while he is still in school than to have 
to blunder his way into the right work after he gets out. 

It might be well before leaving this subject of voca- 
tional guidance to say that it is not the function of the 
teacher to determine any pupil's vocation for him. 
Neither is it the function of any vocational counselor 
to do this. The teacher or the counselor can help 
the pupil to see in the light of his course of study what 
his capacities are, and he can help him to see in what 
sort of occupations these capacities can be utilized 
to advantage. Choice rests ultimately with the in- 
dividual; that is the prerogative of personality, and 
we have no right to substitute our own personality 
for that of another. There are often hidden ideals 
and springs of conduct that will assert themselves in 
shaping the life of the pupil. He may be dimly con- 
scious of these, and they may determine a wiser course 
of action for him than any that we can lay down. 
This is particularly true of any child that has not 
completed the period of adolescence. It is during 
this period that the forces of life are likely to shape 
themselves along the line of permanent interests. 

It has already been said that we want a curriculum 
that will serve the function of vocational guidance 
and that will give sufficient vocational training to pre- 
vent young people from getting lost in "blind alley" 



196 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

jobs. We might add that we want such an adminis- 
tration of the curriculum as will lessen the tendency 
to "blind alley" types of education. Where the cur- 
riculum is not conceived as fluid and flexible, it is 
perfectly possible to lead pupils into blind alley courses 
of study, courses which they may follow for several 
years without really getting anywhere. If they are 
ultimately to get somewhere they have to go clear 
back to the beginning and start all over. There are 
students who have completed a classical course that 
became a blind alley for them because the administra- 
tion of the curriculum was so rigid that they could 
not make any change without losing all that they had 
done. In like manner there are scientific students 
who have been caught in the blind alley because it 
was not seen that they ought to change their course 
rather than get so little out of what they were doing. 
This principle is true also for vocational education. If 
we are not careful, we may switch pupils too soon 
into definite vocational grooves which prevent their 
ever going on to do that something more worth while 
that they would have undertaken if their vocational 
choice had been postponed. In general, the longer 
the pupil can be kept in the line of utilization of his 
plasticity for further growth and development the 
better. To this end the curriculum must be admin- 
istered as a plastic thing which is to be adapted to the 



THE CURRICULUM 197 

performance of its highest educational function and 
not as something that marks out fixed goals and fixed 
pathways by which they must be reached. 

Summary 

The subject matter of education comes out of human experi- 
ence. Knowledge, skills, and virtues that are found to meet needs 
of life, individual and social, are reproduced incidentally or they 
are taught to others intentionally. The curriculum is more than a 
body of knowledge ; it is a selection of all the fundamental civili- 
zation values of its age. As the needs of the age change, the con- 
tent of the curriculum tends to change, too. Where it does not, 
the traditional element comes, in time, to overbalance those phases 
of subject matter that are relevant to life. The curriculum should 
never be regarded as fixed, static, and final ; it should always be 
subject to revision and reconstruction. 

To the teacher the curriculum is a guide to those things which 
have been adjudged to be of most worth, and it is a source of 
material upon which to draw in meeting the needs of developing 
pupils. To the pupil it is not a substitute for the realities of ex- 
perience ; it supplements them, and, like a map, it suggests further 
possible experiences and the routes to take in order to secure them. 

To be admitted to the curriculum, or to be retained in it, a 
subject of study or a topic within a subject must stand the test of 
both individual and social function. It must be capable of meet- 
ing present needs in the unfolding lives of pupils as well as having 
some sort of value to society. 

Subject matter is liberalizing if it sets free the powers and possi- 
bilities of the self and gives him a generous basis of understanding 
and appreciating the world in which he lives. It is vocational 
if its main function is to fit for an occupation. The same subject 
may be liberal for one and vocational for another. 



198 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

One of the most important uses of the curriculum is to test the 
capacities, aptitudes, and fundamental interests of pupils — to 
help them to find themselves and their adaptation to the work of 
life. Hence it ought to be possible to change a course of study 
for any pupil at any time when it is made perfectly clear that he is 
in what might be called a "blind alley" for him. 

Supplementary Readings 

Bloomfield, Meyer, Vocational Guidance of Youth. 

BoBBiTT, Franklin, What the Schools Teach and Might Teachy 

(in Cleveland Education Survey, 1915, Vol. 15). 
Dewey, John, The Child and the Curriculum. 
Dewey, John, Democracy and Education, Ch. 14. 
Henderson, E. N., Principles of Education, Ch. 18. 
Hollingworth, Harry L., Vocational Psychology, Ch. 8. 
Horace Mann School, Curriculum of the Elementary School, 

Teachers College Record, March and May, 1913. 
Johnston, Charles H., High School Education, Chs. 1 and 2 

(by the editor) ; Ch. 3 (by G. L. Jackson) ; Ch. 4 (by Calvin 

O. Davis). 
Monroe, Paul, Brief Course in History of Education, Ch. 3 and 

pp. 168, 351-354. 
Monroe, Paul, Principles of Secondary Education, pp. 214-229 

(by David Snedden). 
National Society for Study of Education, Year Book 1915, 

Vol. 14, Part 1, Minimum Essentials in Elementary School 

Subjects. 
Perry, Arthur C, Problems of the Elementary School, Ch. 2. 
RuEDiGER, William C, Principles of Education, Chs. 7-13. 
Sleight, W. G., Educational Values and Methods, Chs. 8-10. 
Snedden, David, Problem of Vocational Education. 



CHAPTER V 
THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 

What is method ? What need does it meet in the behavior 
of individuals? How is method of teaching determined? 
Is it invented outright ? or is it an improvement on nature ? 
What are the fundamental educative processes in the ex- 
perience of the pupil ? What principles of instruction grow 
out of them ? 

Meaning of Method 

Method implies an orderly way of doing something, 
a mode of procedure marked by definiteness, system, 
organization of processes. It is opposed to casual, 
random, or chance modes of activity. The primitive 
man learned to meet his needs of food and of clothing 
by definite plans of hunting and fishing. Even though 
these plans were crude, nevertheless they represented 
a stage in the development of methods of supplying 
his economic needs systematically. The farmer has 
characteristic methods of preparing the soil, of plant- 
ing various crops, of cultivation, and of harvesting. 
In so far as this is true he does not have to solve the 
problems anew every season of how he shall do these 

199 



200 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

things. The same is true of the business man with his 
methods of salesmanship, advertising, and accounting. 

Methods, or definite modes of procedure, are not 
wholly inventions of the mind ; they grow out of ex- 
perience. Men try to meet their needs in a variety 
of ways ; they first solve the problems of behavior in 
all the exigencies of life as best they can. If they are 
at all intelligent, they cannot help noticing from time 
to time that certain processes are more successful than 
others. These they tend to use again. Thus their modes 
of procedure are improved and they increase the effec- 
tiveness of what they are doing. Thus methods grow 
out of experience, and they return into experience to 
direct and control it more adequately. This can be 
seen very clearly in such a process as that of learning 
to swim. The boy struggles to float and to move 
forward in the water. He does not at first know how 
to do this. He makes many unnecessary movements 
some of which prove to be successful. By repeated 
selection, in the course of time he gets into one system 
of correlated acts just those which are needed. He has 
then achieved a definite method of swimming. 

Method in education, no more than in real life, can 
be invented outright. It assumes processes which are 
more primary which are to be systematized and or- 
ganized for readier and more effective control. Educa- 
tion is taking place wherever there is an individual 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 201 

in interaction with his environment. Wherever active 
children are growing and developing, something in the 
world in which they live is serving as subject matter 
of education. Their reactions are resulting in modifi- 
cations of their behavior in the light of their experience, 
that is, they are learning something. The question 
is, Are they learning to best advantage ? Can we do 
anything to assist them in their learning? If so, we 
must find out what are the natural methods of learn- 
ing — how is experience actually reconstructed in the 
lives of children ? How is it enriched, developed, and 
brought under control ? Through what processes aside 
from those of physical growth does the individual go 
who starts out ignorant, helpless, and dependent and 
finally becomes a useful member of society .^^ The 
method of instruction must correspond to the methods 
of learning employed by children, only it must repre- 
sent their more adequate guidance, organization, and 
direction. Teaching is designed to facilitate processes 
of experience that are already going on ; it is not a 
substitute for them. Only as I can find out what these 
processes are can I devise a method of teaching in 
harmony with the real life of the pupil. If I can find 
out how a pitcher throws a curve ball, then I can 
analyze and reconstruct that process and on the basis 
of my knowledge of what is involved, I can devise a 
method for teaching somebody else to throw curve 



202 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

balls. If I can find out all about the normal mental 
processes involved in learning to recognize printed 
words, to group them into phrases, and to utter them 
with expression, then it is possible for me to organize 
a method of procedure for teaching another to do this 
more easily and rapidly. If I can find out the various 
processes involved in thinking a problem through to 
a successful issue, then it may be possible for me to 
devise methods of procedure which shall take account 
systematically and intentionally of all the critical ele- 
ments, check up all processes, and make sure that they 
are right. I cannot teach a pupil to think, but I can 
help him to improve his methods of thinking by making 
conscious to him the best ways of attacking certain 
classes of problems, of gathering data for use, and of 
testing results. My method of "teaching pupils to 
think" is determined by the possibilities on their part 
of learning to think, and it is necessarily closely cor- 
related with their struggle to improve their own methods 
or to control the technique of their own thinking pro- 
cesses. 

Methods, however well worked out and formulated 
in our normal schools and colleges of education, are 
never formulae that can be applied directly as one would 
use a formula of mathematics in which to substitute 
the specific terms of the problem. Method is always 
a phase of the teacher's intelligence as it seeks to render 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 203 

aid to the learning processes of pupils. It cannot be 
formulated by the teacher or adapted to use in specific 
cases without an understanding of the fundamental 
processes that are involved in educative activity. 

Fundamental Educative Processes 
Learning through self-activity. 

Self-activity the basis of learning, — The biological 
conception of education emphasizes the organism as 
a center of reactions. When the child confronts 
the world into which he has come, he is already 
equipped with certain capacities, innate powers, and 
natural tendencies, which determine on the one hand 
what his fundamental needs are and on the other 
hand what his primary responses to the environment 
shall be in the attempt to meet those needs. As he 
responds to the stimuli of the environment, he receives 
certain satisfactions and dissatisfactions as the result 
of his activities, and he tends to modify his behavior 
in the light of what he finds agreeable or disagreeable 
in the way of results. Learning thus comes through 
self-activity. There is no other way. The teachings 
of Froebel based on his wonderful sympathetic insight 
into child nature and the teachings of modern psy- 
chology both agree in throwing this principle into the 
foreground of attention. But it is still none too well 



204 EDUCAXION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

comprehended and applied. At any point of prog- 
ress reached, the method of teaching must be based 
on the tendencies to self-activity that are present. 
Abmidant provision must be made for the pupil's 
own activities, those which have their origin within 
himself, not merely those which can be forced upon 
him. Educative activity must be initiated from within 
(though the teacher may give the stimulus), and it 
must terminate within the pupil in some satisfaction 
of a need that is his. In formulating our school pro- 
cedure we must make abundant provision for the activ- 
ities of children, both physical and mental. They 
may be based either upon the instinctive tendencies or 
upon the acquired habits and tastes and interests. 
They should include moral and social situations calling 
for the appropriate responses as well as those which 
are motor and intellectual. The wider the scope of 
possible self -activities, the wider the basis of learning. 
The elementary school provides plays, games, drama- 
tization, gardening, excursions, story telling, and all 
sorts of projects and problems besides the traditional 
exercises of the school. Responses of the pupil to an 
enriched and interesting environment take the place of 
memoriter book lessons, or they furnish the basis for 
drawing the book lessons into the circle of real activities. 
Self-activity not an end in itself. — The freedom, 
spontaneity, and originality of the child are recog- 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 205 

nized as fundamental. Not dictation but expression 
is the watchword. However, this attitude must not 
be misunderstood and misapplied. We do not set 
mere activity on the throne. Activity as an end in 
itself is just as bad as knowledge as an end in itself. 
We want activity that gets somewhere. A large 
part of the child's undirected activity has important 
results, but school method is concerned with the 
problem of making sure that the self-activities of 
children are called forth in situations under which the 
conditions are right for fruitful results. We do not 
want whittling merely for the pleasure of making 
shavings, but rather whittling that produces something 
that will reward the activity more richly. We do not 
want mere scribbling, but scribbling that leads on to 
writing and drawing. We do not want merely curious 
prying around in the garden and in the museum, 
but prying around that shall certainly discover interest- 
ing and valuable things. Playing is a form of self- 
activity that is worth while for its own sake, but at 
the same time we want playing under conditions and 
with suggestive materials that shall result in adequate 
physical exercise, social interaction, and the standards 
and practices of moral conduct. Freedom, spontane- 
ity, and originality are to be prized for what they are 
likely to yield in new vital activities that we might 
not think of in making arbitrary and fixed plans of 



206 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

teaching. A certain amount of freedom has to be 
allowed in order that the child may reveal himself 
to us and that we may know better the trend of his 
development. But, having found this, we must fur- 
nish the materials upon which his activities may work 
fruitfully instead of their working at random. What 
has been said of the elementary school child ap- 
plies equally well all the way through the school sys- 
tem. Only the farther we go the more possible it 
becomes to secure self -activities within strictly mental 
situations. 

We have contended that the fundamental principle 
of method is to call forth the self -activity of the child. 
But this self -activity has no value in itself; to be 
educative it must yield fruitful results. It remains 
now to make more explicit what is involved in educa- 
tive self -activity. What we want to get out of self- 
activity is such reconstructions of experience as will 
increase its progressive enrichment, development, and 
control. 

Reconstruction of experience. 

Reconstruction involved in all educational self -activity, 
— The word experience comes from the same Latin 
root as experiment. The fundamental idea of the 
term in Latin is to try, or to find out by trying. In 
a certain sense of the word all experience is the result 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 207 

of trying. Through these activities of trying we learn, 
or we may learn. The law of self -activity emphasizes 
the fact that experience is dynamic ; it is always mov- 
ing in some direction determined by natural or acquired 
tendencies. But the fact of movement, or flow, of 
experience does not necessarily imply that it is educa- 
tive activity. Experience must move in such ways 
that the results are of value to the organism. With 
the young, growth and development are of primary 
concern. The experience of the child must undergo 
continuous reconstruction in the direction of wider, 
freer, and more perfect adjustment to the environment. 
This includes the modification both of inner tendencies 
and of outward behavior. 

Illustrations. — The child who pulls a cork out of 
a bottle for the first time gets new sensory and motor 
experiences which he finds satisfying. The inner 
tendency to manipulation is therefore reconstructed 
into a more definite tendency to do this specific 
thing again which has been found satisfying ; he seeks 
the thrill of the new experience once more. Through 
many repetitions of the act the conscious experience 
is made more definite and also the mode of behavior 
is perfected and brought under control. All learning 
starts with these two factors of existing tendency and 
existing mode of behavior as a basis ; and it consists 
in the reconstruction of one or the other — usually 



/ 



208 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

both — of these aspects of experience. To illustrate 
again, suppose a child sees a bright flame. He is at- 
tracted to it by the urge of a very strong natural tend- 
ency, and he responds by reaching out and touching 
it. He receives a new experience of pain, accompanied 
by a quick reflex withdrawal of the hand and an out- 
burst of crying. Through his reaction to the light 
a new element has been brought into his experience 
of the flame; the dancing, attractive light is also 
something that burns. Still further, from his sudden 
reflex withdrawal of the hand and the uncontrollable 
activity of crying, the element of fear is introduced. 
His consciousness of the light has been reconstructed, 
we may say, in such a way that the primary appear- 
ance of the light and the new cognitive and emotional 
elements are coordinated into one inseparable whole 
of mental activity. His original tendency to behavior 
toward this object is also modified in the light of ex- 
perience. The reaching tendency has to make place 
within it for the withdrawing tendency. His behavior 
is reconstructed possibly into a form of pointing to the 
attractive flame without touching it. In the growth 
of all our experience there is this same continual alter- 
nation and interaction of existing tendency leading 
to response, of response modifying the inner tendency, 
and of modified tendency leading to modified response. 
There is a spiral of development involving the con- 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 209 

tinuous reconstruction of experience, each turn of the 
spiral marking an advance in adaptation to the situa- 
tions of life. 

Additional Illustrations. — ^In another place ^ I have 
worked out this principle of the ''organic circuit" in con- 
siderable detail ; but a few more illustrations may not 
be out of place here. Take the case of the little girl just 
learning to talk. She walks frequently with her father 
to the park, where she sees squirrels. Her father teaches 
her to feed the squirrels with peanuts. This proves 
to be very fascinating for her. The entire experience 
is summed up for her, however, in the one word "nut." 
She calls the squirrel ''nut"; and she calls anything 
that resembles the squirrel, such as a small cat, also 
"nut." It is all to her the nut experience. Let her 
react to the cat, however, by offering it a nut, and the 
experience will not develop in the same satisfying way. 
Some feature of it is different. The vague conscious- 
ness which included this animal in the nut experience 
has to be reconstructed to suit the new situation. 
The two animals are noticed more carefully because 
the demands of behavior require it. The cat expe- 
rience no longer includes the same elements as the nut 
experience. The squirrel is distinguished from the cat 
and related definitely, instead of vaguely, to the nut. 
Whether she has names for the two animals or not, 

1 "The Psychology of Thinking," chs. 5 and 6. 



210 educat;ion for the needs of life 

her experience has, nevertheless, been reconstructed; 
she conceives them as different from each other, and 
her mode of behavior has had to be reconstructed to 
fit the differing situations. Meanings grow in definite- 
ness of character and in richness of content through 
the process of reconstructing them to meet the 
needs of repeated motor or mental modes of behavior. 
''Brave" may mean to the little child "not afraid of 
the dark"; to the same child at ten years of age 
"willingness to fight" ; to the same person in matui/ity 
"the strength of will to face obstacles in the wajf oL 
right living." The transition from the first to the 
third stage of meaning has come about through repeated 
reconstructions of experience in the varied activities of 
life, each one of which has played a part in reshaping 
both the inner tendency, or attitude, and the specific 
outward form of behavior. The moral and religious 
ideal of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood 
of man represents the outcome of many reconstructions 
of experience in the race and in the individual which 
go back for their original impetus to the experience of 
the home. Speech represents the reconstruction of 
vocal babblings so that they ultimately conform to 
the sounds which convey meanings to others. Skill of 
the hand in the manipulation of tools is the result of 
many reconstructions of motor experiences. The social 
forms of adult life come as the result of multitudes 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 211 

of previous reactions that have had to be repeatedly 
modified and made over before the final result was 
attained. 

Relation of principles to method, — The principle of 
reconstruction of experience is a universal law of 
education. Method must be shaped so as not to 
violate this law, but rather to take advantage of it. 
There is a wide gap between the experience of the 
Iiild and the adult interests, attitudes, ideals, stand- 
: rds, meanings, concepts, and specialized modes of 
II ental and motor behavior. It is the function of 
education to bridge this gap. But it cannot be done 
hy any mechanical process of filling in the ravine with 
ad alt material. Neither can the pupil fly across or be 
carried over on the wings of the teacher. He has to 
construct the bridge out of his own life experiences. 
Wi^atever the experience of the pupil may be at the 
present time, that is the starting point with which 
educative method must make its connection. The next 
problem of method is to find under what conditions the 
present trend of experience will lead to new situations 
calling for the reconstruction of experience along de- 
sired lines of growth and development — reconstruction 
that will bring to light new values and secure their 
incorporation into the life of the pupil. This process 
is continuous. There can be no sudden break in the 
educative process without risk of some distortion of 



212 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

life. The risk is well illustrated in the wreckage of 
life and its fundamental values that often flows from 
abrupt change of religious or philosophical views. 
Method must always have regard for the continu- 
ity of the child's experience in passing from one 
value to another that is higher, broader, and more 
mature; in passing from one stage of development 
to another ; or in passing from one subject or topic to 
another. 

Enrichment of experience. 

Widening possibilities of experience. — Primitive men 
lived in a world of limited interests and activities. 
The possibilities of experience were confined within 
narrow groups of people and within narrow bounds of 
time and space. The outreach of the experience of 
the modern man seems to be almost limitless. Time 
has been pushed back far beyond the traditional 
limits of 4000 B.C., and the geologic record stretches 
back into the millions of years. Space has been ex- 
tended to the remotest confines of the earth, and it 
has been pushed out so far into the stellar regions that 
it is almost impossible for the mind to grasp its immen- 
sity by any form of scientific measurement yet devised. 
The smallness of space has likewise been explored by 
the microscope and other scientific aids until it has 
become to the scientific imagination a world of limit- 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 213 

less extent. All this outreach and inreach of the world 
of time and space is filled with the possibilities of expe- 
rience. Activities and events of interest and concern 
to man and to society are everywhere found. Into 
the present moment are crowded the values of aeons of 
evolutionary development and the treasures of expe- 
rience from an infinitely extended universe. Just to 
live at an average human level to-day calls for a depth 
and breadth and fullness of experience far beyond that 
of a generation ago. 

Relation of the school to enrichment of experience. — 
From this point of view, one of the most important 
of all educational processes is the enrichment of the 
experience of our pupils. In the process which we 
have called the reconstruction of experience, the child 
must be led out into ever wider personal contact 
with things and persons, with physical and social 
forces. His experience cannot safely be left to chance 
contacts within his home and neighborhood environ- 
ment. Even his play experience is very narrow as 
compared with what it might be. The school can 
provide forms of play and of games gathered from 
every age and every community, and, by bringing 
them to bear upon child life, tremendously enrich 
experience with all the physical, mental, and social 
values inherent in such activity. The child will come 
into contact with the physical environment at many 



214 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

points if left to himself. But, through the organization 
of definite trips of exploration to farm, field, forest, 
museum, shop, and factory, the school can multiply 
the points of contact with the world and lead children 
into endless new experiences which lie at the basis of 
their larger understanding and appreciation of the 
world and all human industries and institutions. The 
activities of the manual training room, the shop, the 
miniature bank, and the laboratory add to the range of 
his practical experiences of manipulation and control, 
besides serving as fruitful sources of new knowledge of 
facts and of fundamental relationships. From kin- 
dergarten to college we can hardly overemphasize the 
function of education as a process of enrichment of 
direct and immediate experience — physical, mental, 
and social. Only thus is it possible to escape the danger 
of making the work of the school artificial and unreal to 
life, a process of juggling with symbols. The back- 
ground of actual experience furnishes the basis of 
motivation, of interest, of the emergence of new 
problems, and of the meanings inherent in concrete 
realities which lie at the basis of a clear understanding 
of things and the play of an active intelligence. A wide, 
rich, and varied original experience with the realities, 
both physical and social, is the basis for breadth and 
vitality of interest, plasticity of mind, sympathetic 
insight, and balance of judgment. 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 215 

Place of the imagination in the process, — This enrich- 
ment of experience, when it is once under way, can 
be indefinitely extended through the cultivation of the 
imagination. Wherever there is adequate sensory 
basis, the mind leaps beyond the here and now and 
attempts to comprehend that which is not present 
to sense. Thus new content is brought into experience 
together with all the human values that inhere therein. 
It is an important part of the educative process to 
furnish in their proper time and place the materials 
for the enrichment and expansion of experience that 
come through the activity of imagination. The de- 
mands of life to-day require a very large outreach of 
the mind beyond that which comes into our direct 
experience. The ramifications and interrelations of 
our activities and interests compass the globe and take 
into consideration every nation and people. We draw 
upon the ends of the earth for the varied comforts 
and conveniences and necessities of life. We have 
numerous points of contact, intellectual, social, and 
industrial, with the entire world which can be com- 
prehended only by the grasp of the imagination. Very 
early it is essential to begin the enrichment of the child's 
experience through the utilization of this mental func- 
tion. Stories bring him the folklore of all ages and 
lands so that he can enter into the spirit and feel the 
soul of humanity. Descriptions, supplementary read- 



216 EDUCATION FOR T,HE NEEDS OF LIFE 

ings, charts, diagrams, museum specimens, moving 
pictures all aid him in reaching out to the remotest 
parts of nature and of life. History and literature 
fill in wide gaps in actual experience and help the pupil 
to organize and coordinate with the aid of imagination 
the fragments of ordinary experience. 

Enrichment through self-expression, — Self-expression 
is another form of enrichment of experience that is 
educationally important. We should make the expe- 
rience of legitimate self-expression as full, rich, and 
free as possible all the way from kindergarten to 
college. The pupil should know from his own expe- 
rience something of the joy of realization of his ideas 
and emotions in concrete forms of art and utility. He 
should have a chance to test himself in as many ways 
and in as many mediums as possible — in wood and 
metal, in plastic materials, in dramatization, in music, 
in literary forms both oral and written, in the organiza- 
tion and direction of affairs, and in the various social 
activities appropriate to his age. The enrichment of 
experience should include multiplied sources of satis- 
faction, so that the educated person is one who is vital 
and able to live at high potential. One of the worst 
condemnations of the ideal of formal discipline is to 
be found at this point — it tended to limit the expe- 
rience of pupils too narrowly. They were not prepared 
by their schooling for full, rich, and free participation 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 217 

in the best things of their environment. Their lives 
were lived in an unnecessary condition of manual, 
mental, social, and sesthetic poverty. 

Importance of the principle for method. — Let the 
teacher get it thoroughly established in mind that the 
provision for the enrichment of experience in every 
legitimate direction is an essential of all method. 
"'The pressing business of the school is to widen the 
range of intercourse."^ It should be a question ever 
in the consciousness of the teacher when preparing 
a new lesson or developing a new line of work both 
as to what primary experience must precede this 
instruction and also what further profitable enrich- 
ment of experience will result from it. There are two 
stages in the life of the pupil in which this problem of 
enrichment of experience is more crucial than at any 
others. These are the kindergarten-primary period 
and the period of early adolescence. These are periods 
of unusually rapid growth, of marked plasticity of 
body and mind, of high suggestibility to new influences, 
and of rapid expansion of ideas and interests. In 
these periods it is hardly possible to stress too strongly 
the processes of enrichment of experience, so long as 
they are kept in the field of relevancy to the life of the 
pupil. But at all ages, wherever the pupil is being 
lAtroduced to new subjects or to new topics within a 

1 H. G. Wells, "Man in the Making," p. 201. 



218 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

subject, the question of enrichment of experience must 
be raised. Does the pupil have a suflScient background 
of original experience or of resources of the imagination 
to comprehend, to feel, to think ? 

If we paid more attention to the process of ade- 
quate enrichment of experience as we went along, there 
would be less trouble with the more scientific subjects 
of study and the more abstract phases of any subject. 
A background of concrete geometry makes demon- 
strative geometry real and intelligible. Experience 
with stories, biographies, and interesting descriptions 
that have been vital to the child gives meaning and 
interest to the systematic study of history and litera- 
ture. Vital experiences with cooking, baking, and 
preserving fruit make the formal study of chemistry 
a summary and interpretation of the girl's experience. 
Projects of gardening, dairying, and poultry raising 
give meaning, zest, and significance to the farm boy's 
study of biology. Manual training and shop work 
lead into the problems of the science of physics. 
Concrete studies of familiar words and the families 
to which they belong gives motivation and a back- 
ground of reality for the study of Latin and Anglo- 
Saxon. Actual experience in the composition or the 
dramatization of a comedy or tragedy makes possible 
a deeper appreciation of the plot of the masterpiece of 
the great dramatic artist. Thus we might go on 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 219 

through the whole gamut of school subjects and make 
a plea for the larger recognition of this principle of an 
enriched experience both for its own sake and as the 
basis of all the more formal studies. 

Development of experience. 

Meaning of development, — Along with the enrich- 
ment of experience, and not as a separate process, 
should go its development and organization. Without 
attention to the development of experience there is 
likely to result a scrambled education. Growth may 
mean mere quantitative increase in bulk or size of 
the body. Such growth, at least to any considerable 
extent, is abnormal. One may increase in weight by 
the addition of unnecessary and deleterious fat. Mus- 
cles may be relatively large but also flabby. Physical 
development implies modification of structure with 
reference to more efiicient function. Exercise hardens 
the muscles and makes them more capable of work 
and less liable to fatigue. This means development. 
The brain is said to be practically full grown at 
seven years of age; but development continues for 
many years longer. The connection and organization 
of the neurons of the brain are perfected and im- 
provement of function continues. So it is with the 
mental, moral, and social experience of the pupil — we 
want not merely more of it, we want it continually 



220 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

developed and organized with reference to meaning, 
understanding, judgment, thought, relevancy to life 
and its problems. The pupil's enriching experience 
must be continually undergoing reconstruction, it 
must be continually rising to higher levels of apprecia- 
tion, judgment, and control of values. 

Illustrations. — The play experience of the child 
must be transformed from merely spontaneous forms 
of pleasurable activity into real games calling for an 
organization and control of the play activities within 
an orderly scheme of some sort, usually involving some 
social coordination. The crude constructive activities 
of the child must develop into well-planned projects 
involving definite ends and the control of methods 
and materials with reference to the realization of 
these ends. The imagination must not only be en- 
riched quantitatively with interesting materials, but 
it must be developed to the point that it can grasp 
comprehensive realities and shape conduct with refer- 
ence to them. The experience of counting must not 
stop with itself, but be developed into that of adding, 
and the experience of adding developed into that of 
multiplication. The experience of reading must not 
stop with the getting of the thought of an interest- 
ing story in a rather passive way; it must be so 
developed that it can be made the instrument for 
finding the data for the solution of problems of many 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 221 

kinds. A large part of the superiority of the trained 
man over the untrained is to be found not so much 
in the quantitative difference in his experience as in 
the quahtative. The experiences of the trained man 
are more thoroughly organized and integrated and re- 
lated to one another and to their uses in life. He sees 
the meaning of things more quickly and can bring to 
bear upon any situation all the relevant facts, ideas, or 
skills that he has acquired. His experience is not 
merely a quantitative mass but a developed and 
organized body of tendencies, habits, and modes of 
behavior that are relevant to the work of life. 

Bearing of the principle on conception of subject 
matter, — The realization of this demand for the develop- 
ment of experience would mean the breaking down, 
wherever possible, of the barriers that exist between the 
different subjects of study. The starting point would 
be vital experiences and their development and organi- 
zation for effective use. The differentiations of subject 
matter would result first from differentiations of rele- 
vancy and use; the various bodies of subject matter 
would consequently be less likely to exist in the mind 
of the pupil in water-tight compartments. 

Control of experience. 

Initiative and responsibility involved. — It is a familiar 
saying that the function of teaching is to make further 



%%% EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

teaching unnecessary. The pupil must reach the point 
sometime when he is independent of the school and it 
is possible to leave his further education to his own 
initiative. He should not only know how to enrich 
and develop his experience along wisely chosen lines 
but also have had sufficient practice in doing so to 
have acquired mastery of the process. If this stage 
is ever to be reached, we must remember that it 
does not come of its own accord merely by virtue 
of the arrival of graduation time. There are some 
respects in which initiative and independence are to be 
achieved as early as the first kindergarten year, and 
there must be continuous progress in this respect all 
along the line. The method of instruction that leaves 
no scope for the exercise of originality and for the 
assumption of responsibility can hardly be expected 
to produce independence and self -direction in the lives 
of pupils. One of Madame Montessori's greatest con- 
tributions to the method of education has been the 
practical emphasis on the power of self-help in little 
children. She trains them from the beginning to 
assume responsibility for themselves in all the funda- 
mental activities and to seek help only when they 
actually need it. She provides many facilities designed 
to give the opportunity of self -education. Children 
are not hustled from one thing to another at the bidding 
and under the direction of the teacher; they have a 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 223 

chance to work out some things for themselves mitil 
they are satisfied. The personaHty of the child is 
respected. The kindergarten has had much of this 
spirit from the beginning, and rapid growth in the 
same direction has taken place in the primary grades. 
Without adopting the formal elements of Montessori 
method, it is to be hoped that our American kinder- 
garten and primary education can carry out still more 
freely the idea of non-interference on the one hand and 
the assumption of responsibility of children for them- 
selves on the other. To a certain extent the child 
should have the satisfaction of actually discovering his 
needs and of devising his own means of satisfying them, 
the teacher coming into the process at critical points 
of need and rendering assistance in the working out of 
methods or in the provision of materials. In this way 
the pupil's experience unfolds and develops largely under 
his own control. He develops initiative and acquires 
a sense of mastery, both of which are very precious 
possessions of an intelligent selfhood as well as necessi- 
ties of an efficient life. This method of procedure re- 
quires a rich environment both as a source of stimula- 
tion and suggestions and as the source of materials for 
use in carrying through the pupil's activities. It re- 
quires also patient and persistent observation and 
study of the individual pupil to know just what he is 
struggling toward in the way of development and 



224 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

what he needs in the way of stimulus, suggestion, or 
working materials. But the more fully the pupil can 
be made responsible for the initiation and execution of 
his own plans, the more rapidly he is going to learn 
how to control his own experience and to become 
independent of formal instruction. What is true of 
the kindergarten-primary level is equally true in the 
higher grades and in the high school. The method of 
instruction must be one which leaves some leeway for 
the development of the power of self -direction and self- 
education. How much of this is possible in any given 
case, with any given subject, under the direction of any 
given teacher is a practical question that would have 
to be determined by the actual conditions. Most 
teachers would have to find out for themselves the 
limits within which this could be done successfully, 
only they must not have arbitrary and preconceived 
notions that prevent them from testing the matter out 
and finding out whether they can improve upon their 
present practice. From this point of view subject 
matter is not something to be imposed upon the pupil 
but rather something which he is going after in order 
to accomplish some purpose or end that is relevant to 
him. He is learning the methods and processes of 
enriching and controlling his own experience now in 
order that he may be ready to assume the task perma- 
nently in a few years. 



TJIE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 225 

Mastery of methods and special technique. — The 
control of experience is not something that springs 
of its own accord out of pure will or desire. Initia- 
tive is a necessary step in learning control, but it is 
not the final step. Control means mastery of modes 
of procedure and their special technique. It is a 
matter of physical and mental habits under the free 
and flexible control of ideas, ideals, sentiments, and 
emotions. This is where discipline becomes an essen- 
tial factor in education. Control on the side of its 
mechanism and processes calls for practice and specific 
training until habituation results. There is no royal 
road to this goal. It costs struggle and effort; but 
such struggle and effort ought to be the expression of 
the self, it ought to have back of it real motivation 
and to reflect the intelligence of the person. Control 
of the musical experience of playing a violin means the 
persistent attempt to habituate muscles, sense organs, 
and mental processes in certain specific directions. 
When this is accomplished the inner thought, senti- 
ment, and emotion of the player and the outer, or 
objective, expression can be made to correspond. 
There is that harmony of body and mind which the 
Greek education sought and which might be expressed 
by saying that the body expressed the soul. The mind 
disciplined to reason is likewise one in which specific 
habits have been acquired, habits of mental attack, of 



EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

diagnosis of situations, of gathering of data, of testing 
suggestions, and of organizing ideas. When these 
habits are achieved, the individual may be said to 
have gained control over this kind of experience and to 
need no further instruction in reasoning. Here again 
it may be pointed out that such control over the pro- 
cess of thinking cannot be achieved without providing 
pupils with the opportunity to go through the struggle 
of real thinking for themselves in all the subjects where 
that is possible and to as large an extent as possible. 
There must be initiative, motivation, self-direction, 
discovery, and achievement in repeated experiences of 
thinking before mastery comes. Method must not be 
merely a way of getting over the ground with pupils, 
but rather a plan whereby they will call forth their 
powers and practice them in the actual control of their 
experience just as men do in the world outside of school. 

Principles Underlying Instruction 

Diagnosis and prescription. 

Importance of diagnosis. — The physician's method of 
treatment of his patient is determined by a diagnosis of 
the case. So it must be with the teacher and his class. 
Diagnosis is the first step in method. The word diag- 
nosis is derived from Greek forms which mean to know 
through, or thoroughly. We must know thoroughly 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 227 

the facts of the teaching situation before we can help 
pupils in their learning processes. We must under- 
stand thoroughly the nature of the pupil, his stage of 
development, the moving tendencies of his life, the con- 
ditions which are shaping it, the difficulties which con- 
front him, etc., before we can tell what to do. This 
can be made plain through a few illustrations. Take 
first a case of obstinate disobedience. There is no fixed 
method or formula that can be looked up in the teacher's 
notebook to fit the case. What is to be done will de- 
pend on a great many circumstances that have to 
be taken into account. The case must be diagnosed. 
What is the natural temperament of the child ? Is he 
by nature persistent and marked by a large degree of 
concentration on his own ideas? These are good quali- 
ties, and no child ought to be punished merely for their 
manifestation. But he must be taught to use them 
aright. W^hat are his interests.^ Are they strong 
in some direction which has been unthinkingly and 
unnecessarily thwarted by the teacher .f^ What are 
his home surroundings? Are they such as to make 
him distrustful of the will of other persons? Is he 
well treated, or roughly handled at home? Is there 
anything in his ordinary home experience that makes 
him continually smart under a sense of injustice? 
We need to find out all such facts, and many more, 
before we can be sure of devising the best method of 



228 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

dealing with this case of disobedience. The right 
prescription cannot be worked out until we have made 
the right diagnosis. Children in the first grade often 
write the figure 3 backwards, also the figure 7, and they 
make many other peculiar mistakes in the writing of 
numbers and of words. The inexperienced teacher 
often thinks that this is due to heedlessness and in- 
attention, or that it is willful disobedience. This is be- 
cause he has not rightly diagnosed the case. It is 
almost invariably a matter of undeveloped imagination ; 
the child has no definite image of the way the number 
ought to look, and he writes it according to his vague 
image of it. The remedy in this case is twofold — 
if the child is given time to mature, nature will take 
care of the difficulty ; the other phase of the remedy 
may be to lay a better basis of correct imagery through 
repeated observation of correct forms. Children have 
not infrequently been classified as dull, indifferent, or 
inattentive, when a more careful diagnosis of their 
situation would have shown that they had special 
difficulties of seeing, or of hearing, or that they were 
coming to school underfed. 

Discovery of needs, responses, and materials, — If we 
are to apply the principle of function, or that of meet- 
ing actual needs of pupils, it is necessary to diag- 
nose repeatedly to discover the needs which appear 
and which the children are striving consciously or 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 229 

unconsciously to satisfy. In teaching a lesson in read- 
ing, we must know what the needs of the class are. 
Are they at the stage of development at which stories 
make a strong appeal? Will the kind of story which 
I have in mind satisfy, or meet a need? What diffi- 
culties do the children have in the recognition of word 
forms? Do they need practice in phonics to over- 
come these difficulties ? Do they need a better control 
over any other elements of technique that will assist 
them in reading at the present time ? What are these 
elements? Are they inclined to read word by word? 
Do they need to acquire fluency? When we have 
diagnosed the situation to the extent that we have 
specific knowledge of needs and not vague conceptions, 
we must go still further and inquire into instincts, 
interests, ideals, and any other moving tendencies 
that exist or can be aroused to secure the responses 
or self -activities necessary to meet the needs that we 
have discovered. Are the responses which are now 
available adequate, or are they crude and undeveloped, 
needing further training? Can the pupil, if he will, 
make all the sounds necessary? Can he sweep the 
page rapidly enough with his eye ? Can he mentally 
grasp words in phrase groupings? Or do we have to 
give him more practice and more time before we have 
a right to expect these skilled responses? Diagnosis 
will inquire into available materials and subject matter 



230 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

suitable for our purposes. Is the story selected one that 
will make an appeal to the curiosity of the child ? Will 
his interest in it quicken his imagination, focus his 
attention, impel him to activity at high tension? Do 
we need to add descriptive and explanatory details, 
pictures, other illustrative material? Before we can 
make our prescription, or devise our method of pro- 
cedure, we must have canvassed thoroughly, or diag- 
nosed, the situation in this threefold way — as to exist- 
ing needs, 'possible responses, and suitable subject matter 
and materials. What has been said here with refer- 
ence to a lesson in primary reading illustrates the 
principle of diagnosis in teaching a new topic or a given 
lesson in history, geography, physics, Latin, or any 
other subject. 

Evaluation as a phase of diagnosis, — Diagnosis with 
reference to method implies also judgment, or evalua- 
tion, of the natural or acquired tendencies and the 
needs which they are likely to satisfy. Not all im- 
pulses are of equal worth. They do not all repre- 
sent the pressure of the organism toward the satisfac- 
tion of needs of the same degree of legitimacy. 
They do not all point forward to individual and 
social values that are significant. We have to 
know what impulses count most at a given stage of 
life as well as to know which have largest present 
strength. The child may get satisfaction out of the 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 231 

expression of the Impulse to jiggle, and as compared 
with the impulse to rhythmic action it may be the 
stronger of the two. But there is good reason for re- 
garding the rhythmic impulse when it appears as having 
the larger educational significance. It points forward 
to important lines of muscular coordination and later 
to musical appreciation. Diagnosis is not only for 
the purpose of discovering existing needs, but also for 
the object of finding out those which have largest signifi- 
cance for growth and development. The rhythmic 
impulse may assert itself very feebly at first, but it 
is worthy of stimulation and of repeated satisfaction 
until it develops and brings forth its legitimate fruits. 
We need to know not only the present strength and 
value of existing impulses but also their indicative value. 
The method of instruction is determined by the latter 
as well as by the former. This can be illustrated 
again by referring to drawing. There is a stage at 
which the need is primarily that of motor expression 
of an interesting image that presses strongly for release 
in action; the function of drawing at that stage is 
to meet the need as directly as possible, even though 
the product be very crude. There is another stage 
of development in which the pupil seeks especially 
correspondence of his drawing with external reality; 
he cannot be satisfied with mere motor expression. 
The method of instruction then has to be one that will 



232 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

include some emphasis on elements of technique such 
as shading and perspective. Now the crude drawing 
at the earlier stage might indicate at first thought that 
the impulse of drawing was not important enough to 
receive consideration. This would be a false conclu- 
sion. As a matter of fact it has great indicative value ; 
through its expression at this stage, even in its crudest 
form, progress is made to the higher stage at which 
technique can be added to make expression more ac- 
curate. The curiosity of the small child which prompts 
him to ask "why.^" though he is satisfied with the 
simplest answers, is nevertheless the root of all scientific 
inquiry. The eager enthusiasm of the adolescent for 
all that is new in style and in manners is the reflection 
of an impulse that leads to the rapid socialization of 
the individual and his free and easy incorporation into 
the world of adult interests and activities. Knowing 
the significance of the impulse we can pardon some 
of its crudities and excrescences and assist it to develop 
along right lines. Diagnosis into developing needs, 
impulses, and tendencies must always evaluate these 
things with reference to their educational significance 
before methods of instruction can be worked out that 
will be strictly scientific. 

Relation of diagnosis to formulation of aims. — Ade- 
quate diagnosis aids prescription by leading to the 
formulation of clear and definite aims which neces- 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD ^3 

sitate precision of method. For example, when the 
case of ''obstinate disobedience" already referred to 
has been properly diagnosed, the aim will probably 
not take the form of teaching Johnny to be more obedi- 
ent, but rather to teach Johnny to understand that his 
teacher's motives are not capricious like those of his 
drunken father, and that he has no personal grudge 
against him when he requires him to conform to cer- 
tain common regulations. Whatever mode of proced- 
ure gains this end probably settles not only this case 
of Johnny's disobedience but also other possible cases 
that might arise unless his attitude were changed. 
In like manner, we might recur to the illustration of 
the teaching of reading. When all the facts are can- 
vassed regarding the reading lesson, the aim will not 
be any such vague and general thing as to teach flu- 
ency of expression, but rather some specific thing 
such as to teach these children who tend to read word 
by word to group words into phrases; the aim will 
not be to teach clearness of enunciation, but rather 
to teach Hans and Fritz to say "this" instead of "dis, " 
to teach Willie Oleson to say "jump" not "yump," 
to teach Mary Jones to say "having" instead of "hav- 
in'," etc. This definiteness of aim and of prescription 
is an important gain that comes from applying thor- 
oughly the principle of diagnosis. 

Application to ''lesson plans,''' — The whole art of 



234 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

lesson planning, which our normal schools have em- 
phasized so strongly, might be much simplified as well 
as made more practical, if it would keep in mind 
just two things brought out in this discussion of 
diagnosis, — these children and this subject matter. 
The whole plan of the lesson revolves around these 
two factors. What are the needs of these children.? 
what are their diflficulties at this time, what are their 
present tendencies, what are their specific problems, 
what are their developing interests, what is the exact 
state of their progress ? And again, this subject mat- 
ter — is it capable of satisfying the needs that my 
diagnosis has discovered .f^ exactly what in it is rele- 
vant .^^ Is it relevant as it stands? or will it need 
reconstruction, amplification, illustration .^^ The pri- 
mary thing in a lesson plan is not its conformity step 
by step with Professor So-and-So's system of peda- 
gogy ; it is an exact diagnosis of the teaching situation 
and the utilization (not the following) (^ principles 
of pedagogy to help in the diagnosis and in the deter- 
mination of the method which shall best meet the needs 
discovered. It is always a question of these children 
and this subject matter to be related in a particular 
class, in a particular situation, at a particular stage 
of progress in such a way as to meet the particular 
needs in the lives of children personally known and 
understood. Get the thing done, using all the peda- 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 235 

gogical knowledge and all the professional experience 
and good common sense available, — that is more 
important than making it fit into a scheme of five 
formal steps or any other ideal pedagogical scheme, 
even one based on my own doctrine of function. I wish 
I could put it as strongly as I feel — don't pin your 
faith to the machinery of method, make your plan to 
meet the specific needs of a specific situation after 
the most careful and thorough diagnosis of all the fac- 
tors entering into it ; use your pedagogy in the process, 
don't let it use you. Pedagogy is not a bunch of rib- 
bons with which to tie up packages; it is something 
with which to think in solving teaching problems. 

The law of motivation. 

Relation of motivation to work. — We live in a world 
in which nothing worth while gets done without effort. 
We tend not to put forth this effort except where 
satisfaction is secured or conditions that are unsatis- 
factory are to be changed by it. Motivation is a 
law of life. Children do not differ from adults in 
this respect. The law applies in school as well as 
out of it. Where there is nothing in the nature of 
the school work that appeals by its own right and 
draws forth the activities of the pupil, then effort 
is sometimes secured through the pressure of external 
rewards and punishments. Special incentives, posi- 



236 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

tive or negative, are devised. But slave labor is not 
as profitable in the long run as free labor. In the 
economic world this principle is thoroughly established. 
We are coming to see it more and more clearly in the 
life of the school. There is no difiiculty in getting the 
boy to spend time and effort in building a snow fort 
or to utilize his energy to the limit in playing baseball. 
These things meet a deep-seated need of his nature for 
play. They strike home to him, the effort expended 
is relevant to some interest or purpose of his. It 
is expended on the same basis as that of the business 
man, the farmer, the teacher. It has meaning and 
significance to him. It is the feeling element, the sense 
of relevancy to me, that gives the tang of reality to 
what one does. Effort without heart in it is heavy, 
dull, and meaningless; it becomes drudgery and not 
real work. Work is wholesome, vibrant, buoyant; 
it is effort vivified by the consciousness of its worth 
to me or mine. Because of the satisfyingness of the 
goal that is set, interest pervades all the activities that 
are involved in reaching it. In this sense, work is 
not psychologically distinguishable from play. The 
distinction would lie in the greater value of the product 
of work and the more serious character of the activities. 
It is genuine work that we want in the school. How 
shall we get it.^^ Just as we do in life anywhere else, 
by following the law of motivation. To do that we 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 237 

shall have to develop situations in which the physical 
and mental efforts of pupils are felt to be relevant to 
their own aims and purposes. We must awaken a 
consciousness of needs and develop an appreciation 
of the values of those things which will satisfy those 
needs. 

Positive and negative aspects of motivation, — Motiva- 
tion has both a positive and a negative aspect. The 
negative aspect is to awaken dissatisfaction with the 
present self. The questioning of Socrates aimed 
first of all to accomplish this. He would give the 
"torpedo's shock" ^ to the self-complacency and self- 
assurance of the promising youth. When the boy 
discovered his own ignorance, he became more vividly 
conscious of his need of knowledge. Then the ques- 
tioning of Socrates took the constructive form, aiding 
the pupil to discover the truth. When the child be- 
comes critical of his crude drawing and his dauby 
painting, or the high school pupil becomes dissatisfied 
with his commonplace style of composition, that is a 
critical moment. It may lead to discontinuing of 
effort, or it may be a factor in stronger motivation. 
Here is where the positive aspect of motivation must 
be brought to bear. Over against the unsatisfactory 
self must be set the ideal self, the self in which a new 

* A phrase used in the story of Meno and the slave boy, in Plato's " Dialogues," 
"Meno." Jowett's translation. 



238 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

achievement is to occur. The self that can draw well 
or that can write well must be vividly set over against 
this unsatisfactory self. The new value which would 
satisfy must be made to glow with warmth and with 
the tang of reality until in imagination and feeling it 
is already an inseparable part of the real self, in fact 
is felt to be the truly real. The warmth of feeling binds 
the ideal to me until it would positively hurt to cut 
it off; the self would be dismembered just as truly 
as if the hand were to be cut off, or the eye gouged out. 
In fact, many men and women would sooner suffer 
the dismemberment of the body than the loss and 
wreckage of their ideals. Motivation is at its maxi- 
mum where the achievement of the ideal is felt to be 
a necessity of the self, something that makes a vital 
difference to me. 

This discussion suggests that criticism, whether self- 
criticism or that of the teacher, is not justified on its 
own account ; it is only the negative phase of motiva- 
tion. Criticism that is to be effective must stimulate 
ideals of achievement and make them appeal. Much 
of defect will fall away of its own accord, just naturally 
be sloughed off, if we can get the mind focused sharply, 
strongly, and enduringly upon worthy ideals of achieve- 
ment. Here is to be found the fallacy of the abundant 
use of red ink on the composition papers of grammar 
grade and high school pupils. Just as it stands it is 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 239 

negative in its effect. It does not furnish adequate 
motive for rewriting. Attention might better be fo- 
cused sharply on a few fundamental ideals of correct 
composition which the pupil feels that he can achieve 
when his errors are pointed out. He will find more 
satisfaction in-overcoming a few dilBSculties and noting 
his progress than in making a feeble blanket attempt 
to be right in every possible detail. 

Motivation a more fundamental concept than interest, 
— Method of procedure that arouses pupils to the 
consciousness of their needs and the worthwhileness of 
specific things to be achieved will be fruitful of effort. 
Motivation is a much more fundamental concept than 
interest for our pedagogy. It cuts much deeper. 
It carries with it none of the implication of making 
things easy for pupils which is so often read into the 
doctrine of interest. In fact, we recognize the truth 
that out in life the things that are of most worth are 
secured only at the cost of struggle and hard effort. 
It is this strenuous effort in the work of the school that 
we desire, the effort that achieves. That is why we 
emphasize motivation; the highest forms of effort 
follow freely in response to ideas of relevancy and 
worth. Drudgery is not morally or intellectually 
profitable. It is work and the joy of achievement 
that count in real life. 

Sources of motivation for school work. — If the prin- 



240 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

ciple of motivation is to dominate the method of in- 
struction, we need to know what are the sources of 
motivation upon which we may draw. These sources 
are to be found in needs that are inherent in (1) 
instincts and natural tendencies, (2) acquired habits, 
tastes, ideals, and interests, (3) practical situations 
calling for action, (4) the outreach of the mind itself 
as expressed in curiosity, the developing imagination, 
and the challenge of thought problems. 

The instincts, natural tendencies, and inherited capac- 
ities of children are the primary sources of motivation. 
Play and general physical activity are satisfying in 
themselves ; they need no further justification. When 
we connect school work in the kindergarten-primary 
period with these powerful natural tendencies, the 
problem of motivation is quickly solved. The con- 
structive impulse can be made the source of motiva- 
tion for a wide range of school activities that reach 
far beyond the mere training of hand and eye. Some- 
times it seems as if almost everything that is worth 
knowing is related to, or involved in, some sort of 
constructive activity. The impulse to collect and 
hoard things may serve very useful purposes in leading 
the way to problems of geography and natural science. 
A strong natural capacity for drawing, music, mathe- 
matics, languages, or anything else means that the 
individual possessing this natural capacity will find 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 241 

satisfaction in achievement along the line of his "bent." 
There will be strong motivation for school work that 
exercises the natural capacity, and everything that is 
brought into functional relationship with it will be 
found interesting. In utilizing natural tendencies and 
inherited capacities as the basis of motivation for 
school work, we must remember the principle enunci- 
ated by Dewey ^ of not merely indulging the natural 
impulses but rather satisfying them; we must help 
them to realize themselves in positive progressive 
achievement. Otherwise the interest growing out of 
their exercise is soon exhausted, and the pupil is apt 
to become blase or else dependent on excitement for a 
renewal of his efforts. To allow the child to scribble 
indefinitely is to indulge a natural tendency ; sometime 
or other it ought to bring him more satisfactory results, 
the positive achievement of writing or drawing. Boys 
are often allowed to indulge their constructive impulses ; 
they get nowhere, though it would be possible with a 
little guidance to develop them to such an extent that 
they could make useful toys, understand the mecha- 
nism of electric bells, and possibly make their own wire- 
less telegraphy outfits. The doctrine of freedom as 
applied to the school does not properly mean allowing 
the pupil to do just as he pleases, if what he pleases 
to do is merely to indulge his impulses. Freedom 

1 Dewey, "School and Society." 



242 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

should mean liberty to achieve, to do something, to 
work out to advantage what is in one. There is law 
and order in that kind of freedom, and there need be 
no real disorder in the wisely directed schoolroom in 
which that kind of freedom is cultivated. 

All the natural sources of motivation should be made 
the center for hosts of related activities that get their 
meaning and significance, their felt relevancy and in- 
terest for the pupil from their connection with the more 
fundamental sources of his energy. Thus from the 
basis of that which has natural motivation for him, he 
is led to continually reconstruct his experience, widen 
its outreach, and draw into it new values. He will 
be continually acquiring and developing new habits, 
tastes, interests, ideals. These in turn become just 
as real sources of motivation for further school work 
as the natural tendencies. With the growth of intelli- 
gence, the ideals and ends that will serve as the basis 
of motivation may become more and more remote 
from the needs of the immediate situation ; and school 
work that is more theoretical, abstract, or remote in 
its bearing on life may furnish the same zest of pursuit 
and call forth the same prodigality of effort in its attain- 
ment as that which is of more immediate concern. 

When practical situations calling for action of some 
sort confront one, there is an immediate and strong 
basis of motivation in real life. The school can take 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD US 

advantage of this principle to some extent. There 
are practical needs in the lives of pupils and in the school 
community sometimes that may be utilized as a basis of 
work. Perhaps there is a new lawn or garden to be 
prepared, tennis courts and baseball grounds to be 
plotted and prepared, apparatus for the playground 
to be made, if it is to be had at all. Such practical 
situations provide a form of motivation for a great 
deal of work that properly belongs in arithmetic, geog- 
raphy, or natural science. The situations calling for 
facts and for the control of methods of procedure are 
real as opposed to formal. The things which they 
must learn become focal in the consciousness of the 
pupils because they are relevant and necessary in meet- 
ing actual needs. In this account of sources of motiva- 
tion, it should not be forgotten that social instincts, 
social ideals, and practical social situations have not 
been drawn upon as fully as they might be in providing 
motivation for social, moral, and many types of intel- 
lectual and aesthetic culture. 

In the tremendous emphasis which we are putting 
upon the instinctive bases of education at the present 
time, with a corresponding . emphasis on the motor 
processes and the physical activities, we must not 
forget that the mind itself has dynamic tendencies and 
that there are strong bases of motivation in the needs 
that are inherent in the outreach of the mind itself. 



244 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

The first of these natural mental tendencies to demand 
attention is curiosity. This represents the outreach 
of the mind for new sensations and new experiences of 
every sort. The impulse is very strong in children. 
School work sometimes tends to crush it out, instead of 
utilizing it as a natural source of mental energy and 
activity. The curiosity of the little child centers 
rather largely in the things that impress the senses, 
that involve activity, or that have a direct emotional 
relation to his own life, such as other children, pet 
animals, toys, the activities of people in his own home 
and immediate surroundings. Curiosity is the basis 
of a sympathetic interest in all sorts of things in the 
immediate environment ; hence it may be used as the 
basis for teaching the first lessons in natural science, 
geography, and the occupations of ordinary life. 
Lessons in reading and geography may find increased 
motivation in the curiosity of children about the pic- 
tures in their books, about specimens brought in from 
field or museum, and about the products that they find 
on the table and in the market which come from dis- 
tant or foreign parts. Strange phenomena of physics, 
chemistry, and astronomy make their appeal to the 
curiosity of the older pupil and serve as a basis of 
motivation and interest in his scientific studies. With 
the development of imagination, the mind reaches out 
naturally to comprehend a wider system of relation- 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 245 

ships. Story, biography, and history make their 
appeal to the imagination. Literature, geography, 
and science furnish abundance of material for the 
imagination to feed upon. An active mind is bound to 
seek a richer body of materials for its activities to 
organize, and it is constantly seeing things in new 
settings and relationships. The method of instruction 
should utilize this source of motivation. If it can be 
discovered in what direction the imagination is active 
and reaching out, work related to that trend is likely to 
prove attractive and to be pursued with eagerness and 
zest. The challenge of an intellectual problem ought 
to be another fruitful source of motivation. Even little 
children like to use their ''thinker" within the limits 
of possible success. Man is a reasoning animal, and 
we know that there is satisfaction in the exercise of 
any normal function. There ought to be something 
of a thrill in being confronted with a real problem for 
which one's powers are ready and the bearing of which 
he can see. There is joy in achievement in mathe- 
matics, in the solution of problems of historic develop- 
ment, in the induction of new truths of science. Let 
the pupil taste the pleasures of mastery and discover 
his own thought powers, and he will like to solve prob- 
lems. He will come to thrill with the challenge of a 
problem; the challenge will be ample motivation for 
the concentration of all his powers and the putting 



M6 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

forth of his best efforts. Some place should be found 
for this kind of motivation in the methods of instruc- 
tion from the lowest grade to the highest. We prob- 
ably do not stimulate and develop enough this source 
of appeal. Our methods tend to slur over the real 
difficulties, making things easier for the sake of more 
rapid external progress. Whether in practical things 
or in those which are intellectual, there is a deep sense 
of satisfaction in being able to say, as a little eighteen 
months old child does, ''Did it myself." This joy in 
achievement is one of the most fundamental of all 
sources of motivation. The teacher whose methods 
make a large place for genuine achievement on the 
part of pupils is likely not to find any lack of motivation, 
any real unwillingness to do their work. 

Motivation not a separate step in method. — Our 
emphasis on the necessity of motivation does not 
carry with it the implication that a definite part of 
every lesson period must be given to "motivating the 
work." Work properly adjusted to the known needs 
and capacities of pupils and providing for progressive 
achievement is likely to carry its own motivation. 
There are times when it is necessary to make the main 
consideration that of getting up steam, but an engine 
ought not to be stopped continually to get up steam. 
Motivation is not to be put down as a step in method 
or lesson procedure; it is something that the teacher 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 247 

has to plan for both as the basis and as the outcome of 
his method of procedure. The completion of one unit 
of work should carry with it motivation for an attack 
upon a new problem related to, or growing out of, the 
former one. Graduation from school itself should 
mean that the pupil has acquired motives for the 
continuation of his efforts at further self-education. 

The use of projects and problems. 

Meaning and nature of projects. — In the formulation 
of methods of instruction, there is a growing tendency 
to consider projects and problems as the normal centers 
around which the learning activities are to revolve. 
By a project we usually mean some practical enterprise 
undertaken by a pupil or a group of pupils. The mak- 
ing of a table for one's self or for the use of the home or 
the schoolroom is such a project in the field of manual 
training. The project is contrasted with that method 
of procedure which concerns itself with the mastery first 
of part -processes such as sawing square corners, planing 
boards smooth, making various classes of joints, all done 
for the sake of training or in anticipation of some future 
use. The project method has taken strong hold upon 
the teaching of manual training and the domestic arts. 
It is gaining ground very rapidly in rural education. 
Boys carry out definite projects for the season or for 
the year in gardening, corn raising, cotton raising, dairy- 



248 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

ing, milk testing, bee keeping, poultry raising, etc- 
These, of course, must be on a limited scale so that no 
project shall occupy all of the time and attention of the 
pupil to the exclusion of other lines of work. Country 
girls, in like manner, undertake projects of gardening, 
preserving of fruit, making of butter, etc. In city 
schools, higher grade classes in arithmetic have been 
known to undertake the project of finding out just 
what their parents spend upon them and keeping a 
strict account for the various items of clothing, food, 
and the various kinds of pleasure. Projects involving 
the planning, preparation, and execution of every- 
thing that is necessary in giving a party or a reception 
are becoming more or less common. In practically 
every grade from the kindergarten through the high 
school it is possible for a skillful teacher to secure from 
the class itself suggestions of worthwhile projects that 
may be undertaken as supplementary or as integral 
parts of their work in the subject that they are studying. 
Basis of value of projects, — In employing the method 
of the project, one must not suppose that it has some 
magical educational efficacy. Its value does not depend 
wholly upon the fact that it provides scope for self- 
activity. It does this, to be sure, in an admirable way ; 
but the value of the project will consist in the use 
to which that self-activity is put. Self-activity must 
be guided and directed into fruitful channels. Every 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD M9 

project must be examined critically with reference to 
its educative promise. First of all, one should ask 
whether the project is typical of life in the real world. 
Does it bring pupils into more direct contact with 
things, processes, activities, modes of procedure, facts, 
interests, and ideals that are significant in modern 
life ? Another thing that we must ask of any project 
is the question whether it will lead our pupils face to 
face with the problems, or any of the problems, of the 
sciences, arts, industries, or the humanities with which 
the curriculum deals in such ways as will make neces- 
sary further and more systematic study. We must re- 
member also that projects are not likely to yield their 
full value without adequate supervision. It is not 
sufficient to have a country boy undertake the care of a 
cow for a year, if this means merely doing chores for 
his father. The work must be planned so as to con- 
form to the principles of scientific feeding and scientific 
care of the milk, and it must be supervised with refer- 
ence to that end. The boy must make it his business 
to determine whether the cow is worth the expense of 
her feed and care, and, if so, how profitable she is. 
This means the study of a great many scientific facts 
about food values, means of testing milk for butter 
fat, sanitary care of milk, marketing of cream and 
butter ; and it means a pretty thorough practical course 
in keeping accounts. His final report on his project 



250 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

should be put in good business form, so as to show 
exactly and in detail what he has found out. His report 
might even involve the use of statistical tables and the 
presentation of salient facts in the form of graphs. 
Such a project carried through properly yields a vast 
amount of practical and relevant knowledge. It gives 
training in arithmetical processes, it necessitates con- 
tinuity of effort, it raises vital problems of farm and 
community life, it leads directly into an interest in 
fundamental sciences, and it lays the basis for under- 
standing and appreciation of a great fundamental in- 
dustry and the part that it plays in the life of society. 
It is the vital center for the correlation of a great many 
kinds of knowledge and for the emergence of many new 
problems requiring study and investigation. Through 
social projects in the domestic science class the girls 
learn in a vital way the best usage in the matter of in- 
vitations, preparation, and decoration of the table, 
the welcome and seating of guests, the social conven- 
tions of dining and entertaining, besides having the 
opportunity to assume responsibility for buying 
materials, preparing food, and accounting of costs. 
Such a project is a center around which a great deal of 
study and investigation revolves naturally. Nobody 
can tell in advance just what its outreach may be. The 
project in arithmetic previously mentioned had many 
consequences other than that of serving as a basis for 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 251 

the teaching of itemized accounts. It made many 
of the children thoughtful about the income of the 
family and its proper and economical expenditure. It 
helped them to distinguish between necessities and 
luxuries, between reasonable expenses and extrava- 
gance. It made some of the children more thoughtful 
and appreciative of what their parents were doing for 
them, and led them to see something of their obligation 
to assist by taking better care of their clothes and by 
being very reasonable in their requests for money to 
spend on pleasures. 

Relation of problems to projects, — Project and prob- 
lem cannot be sharply distinguished from each other. 
The term problem is used for that class of under- 
takings in which the activities called for are domi- 
nantly intellectual or related to some intellectual end. 
One of the great values of the project method is that 
in the pursuit of the various projects of the class 
many of the fundamental intellectual problems are 
bound to arise. Problems of mathematics, of physics, 
and of industrial life are sure to grow out of well-con- 
ducted and well-graded projects in manual training. 
Problems of chemistry, sanitation, hygiene, and social 
intercourse grow out of projects in domestic science 
and domestic art. Problems of mathematics, chemis- 
try, biology, physics, transportation, and exchange are 
likely to be reached through projects in the field of 



252 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

rural life. Thus we might go on indefinitely pointing 
out classes of problems that will almost certainly con- 
front the pupil whose school life is rich in projects. 
These problems have a great advantage over those 
which are formally presented by the teacher or the 
textbook. They arise under conditions that make their 
solution necessary to the carrying through of a practical 
enterprise in which the pupil is already interested, or* 
their solution is relevant to a growing intellectual 
interest that has its roots in practical experience. 
Such problems have the tang of reality; effort spent 
in their solution seems relevant and worth while to the 
pupil. One problem leads to another that is involved 
in the first or closely related to it. Thus purely 
reflective problems are reached in the course of the 
developing experience. These purely reflective and 
abstract problems, however, do not seem forced upon 
the pupil from without. They have arisen in his own 
experience in the course of mental activities and in- 
terests to which they are relevant. They appear in a 
setting of experience in which there is an ever-widening 
circle of relationships of things to one another. The 
problem is a challenge to thought to clear up, interpret, 
correlate, organize, and explain that body of experience. 
The problem-interest is likely to grow and develop 
when it works under the stimulus of progressive achieve- 
ment. Then the path is clear for the more abstract 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 253 

and highly scientific aspects of any subject for which 
there is already an adequate background of experience. 
These abstract studies are not to be despised because of 
their apparent remoteness from the interests of life. 
There is altogether too strong a tendency in the pres- 
ent demand for the practical to ignore the real value 
of the theoretical. It sometimes pays richly in returns 
to get away from the immediate and present for a time 
in order to get back at it with added insight, power, and 
with new tools. The method of instruction must 
not ignore the theoretical on account of its difficulty, 
but rather must concern itself with the development of 
the problem-interest progressively from stages of near- 
ness to concrete experience up to the more remote. 

Advantages of the method of projects and problems. — 
There are many advantages in the method of projects 
and problems when it is thoroughly understood and 
wisely conducted. It is readily seen that it affords 
many opportunities for self -initiated activities. There 
is much room for the cultivation of initiative, origi- 
nality, and enterprise. The educative activities, both 
physical and mental, are called forth in situations in 
which they are felt to be relevant; they cease to be 
formal and become functional. The things which 
the pupil learns, whether classified as knowledge, skill, 
or discipline, are not forced upon him from without; 
they are forced upon him by the necessity of the 



254 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

forward movement of his own activities toward a self- 
imposed goal of achievement. Motivation becomes 
internal and inherent, and effort is free and self -directed. 
The pupil is engaged neither in play nor in drudgery but 
in true work. Where problems to be solved replace 
telling and dictation, the mind has a chance to draw 
upon its own experience for ideas and suggestions, to 
judge and evaluate these suggestions, to select and 
organize physical and mental materials with reference 
to their bearing, to control methods of procedure in 
relation to specific ends to be reached, and to test 
results by their application to the further control or 
explanation of experience. The training received in 
observation, in thought processes, in the acquisition of 
habits, skills, techniques, and Ideals is Identical with 
that required In life outside the schoolroom; hence 
this training Is likely to carry over Into the subsequent 
life of the pupil after he leaves school. It is the kind 
of training which Is adapted to meet the needs of life 
because he Is learning the actual methods and processes 
employed by men in the modern world. He is getting 
insight Into the problems of life and the methods of 
their solution, hence his circle of culture Is constantly 
widening. To the teacher accustomed to the subject- 
matter Ideal the method of projects and problems may 
seem to be slow and the amount of ground covered 
relatively small. But this loss is more apparent than 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 255 

real. There may be less knowledge put away in cold 
storage, but there is a relatively larger part that is in 
constant use. The grasp of meaning, the sense of 
relevancy and reality, and the ability to make practical 
use of knowledge is apt to be much greater. The 
setting and interrelationship of facts and principles is 
richer; there is less of isolation and detachment of 
knowledge. And when it comes to habits, skills, and 
special technique, these are being shaped by continual 
use in the specific directions in which they need to 
operate in real life. 

Range and limitations of use of projects and problems, 
— At the present time, the ideal of the project and the 
problem is profoundly affecting the reconstruction 
both of curriculum and of method. It is compara- 
tively easy to effect this reconstruction in the field of 
the practical arts and of agriculture. Projects, both 
individual and social, are readily found ; and, from the 
pursuit of these projects, problems leading into the 
heart of the subject that is being taught are sure to 
arise. In composition, literature, geography, history, 
and science, it is not quite so easy to secure good proj- 
ects as the basis of method, although much can be 
done by those who are willing to experiment.^ One 

1 A good illustration of the principle of the project in composition is to be found 
in a recent book by S. A. Leonard, in the Riverside Educational Monograph Series, 
on the " Teaching of English Composition in the Grades." 



^56 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

difficulty in these subjects is to be found in the fact 
that interest in problems, an intellectual interest, 
has to be relied on sooner than it does in the case of 
the practical arts. The utilization of the problem- 
interest requires more skill than is necessary where 
practical projects are more prominent. Nevertheless 
the method is essential to the development of vital 
knowledge and the acquisition of right methods of 
thinking. It will require much experimentation by 
many people to settle the main lines of procedure with 
all the fundamental subjects of the curriculum. While 
compelled for the present to work within certain pre- 
scribed limits as to subject matter and its organiza- 
tion, it is still possible for the teacher to apply the 
method of projects and problems to certain phases of 
his work and to acquire skill in its use. Until such 
skill is acquired it would not be wise for the teacher 
to try to reconstruct his method completely to con- 
form to the new principle. It can be employed in 
certain lines of supplementary work which will vitalize 
the ordinary routine teaching by stimulating interest 
in the subject and by raising problems that can be dis- 
cussed in the regular class work. Often the method 
serves as the best approach to a new subject or to a 
new topic within a subject. It is likely to break down 
the tendency to memoriter study and routine recita- 
tion. Books are more likely to be used as means of 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 257 

rousing one to the consciousness of problems and as 
furnishing a body of conveniently organized material 
upon which to draw for their solution. A little teach- 
ing by the method of projects and problems is likely 
to vitalize the pupil's methods of studying. Hence 
every teacher should employ the principle within the 
limitations of facility and experience until such time as 
facilities improve and further skill is gained. Many 
teachers will find that after they have demonstrated 
their skill and have perfected the organization of their 
work along this line the limitations upon its use will 
gradually disappear. 

From function to technique. 

Older and newer methods compared. — The older methods 
of instruction tended to throw technique into the fore- 
ground very early. In the teaching of drawing, instruc- 
tion was first given in the elements of form ; pupils had 
to practice drawing straight lines, curves, circles, ellipses, 
etc., before they undertook to draw objects or to express 
their ideas with pencil or brush. At the end of the 
course, they could draw a nicely placed group of geo- 
metrical solids with proper shading, perspective, and 
symmetrical arrangement. But it was very rarely the 
case that any one in the class could draw the picture of 
a running dog or could make the sketches necessary to 
illustrate a story. In music, there was a long and pain- 



^58 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

ful initiation into the mysteries of reading notes before 
much singing was done. Now, we reverse the order : 
sing first and later master the technique by means of 
which we can make singing material more readily 
available. In reading, the technique of the alphabet, 
of phonic combinations, and of syllabication preceded 
reading, or came very early in the teaching of the sub- 
ject. Now, we emphasize the story and the recogni- 
tion of meaningful words, before we teach the alpha- 
bet or drill in phonics. Technique becomes a means 
to an end inside of a working function. In arithmetic 
one had to master the technique of notation and numer- 
ation, both Arabic and Roman, and this for large 
numbers, very early in the course. In geography, 
technical terms of mathematical and astronomical 
geography were emphasized from the beginning, and 
often they were memorized long before it was possible 
for the pupil to understand them. In language, there 
was a great deal of study of grammatical forms and very 
little practice in composition. The idea a,ll the way 
through the curriculum seemed to be to get the tech- 
nical tools of learning into the hands of the pupils as 
soon as possible. The traditions established through 
centuries of the practice of a vocation are not broken 
down very easily. They linger on even where newer 
theory is accepted. We still find in much of our teach- 
ing this tendency to the early emphasis of technique. 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 259 

We have not yet made the complete reconstruction 
that is demanded in the light of the psychology of 
growth and development as opposed to the psychology 
of adult finished products and processes. 

Right relation of function and technique to each other. 
— If we observe the laws of growth, we cannot help 
noticing that function is more primary than technique, 
needs more primary than the specific methods of 
satisfying them. The child tends to do something, 
and in the progress of his experience he gradually finds 
out how to do it better than at his first crude attempts. 
This is true of such physical activities as creeping and 
walking and swimming. It is equally true of learn- 
ing to talk. Here the child tries to express his ideas 
in ways that will meet his needs; and he fumbles 
around a great deal until he hits upon right modes of 
expression. He builds up the technique of oral ex- 
pression little by little in immediate connection with 
its use. Nobody would think of such a thing as teach- 
ing the child to talk in any other way. It is only in the 
school that the attempt is made to violate the natural 
method of learning and to force technique beyond the 
requirements of use, to teach it as a separate thing in 
advance of its need. 

In learning to draw, the child left to himself works out 
in crude form the ideas that are dominant in conscious- 
ness. The images of interesting things press for release, 



EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

and drawing performs the function of expression. The 
wise teacher is more concerned with the building up of 
interesting images and the cultivation of the impulse of 
expression in the early stages of teaching drawing than to 
get the finished products that might come from a larger 
insistence upon the elements of technique. As the 
drawing activity develops and becomes more conscious 
of its aims and purposes, the need for technique becomes 
more urgent. Gradually more attention has to be given 
to relative sizes of things, to accuracy of detail, to ap- 
pearance of things at a distance, etc. There is a larger 
demand for all that gives the semblance of reality. 
Then it is that a knowledge of the technique of shading 
and perspective becomes necessary. When the elements 
of technique are taught little by little in connection with 
the growth of experience and at such points as they are 
relevant to existing needs, they are not so likely to 
swamp the development of the inner impulse itself. 
After all, if one have all the elements of technique and 
have not the art impulse, his technique is a vain thing. 
In the technique of reading the same principle applies. 
The first concern of the teacher is that of function. 
The desire to read, the love of reading, this is the big 
thing. Knowledge of the alphabet, of phonics, of 
syllables, etc., are means to a further end. They are to 
be brought in at the point of further need for them, 
drilled upon if necessary as the impediment to func- 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 261 

tion becomes more conspicuous; but they are never 
to be looked upon as ends in themselves, as is apt to 
be the case when they are put into the foreground 
and taught in advance of the situations in which 
they become significant. The method of language 
instruction also now tends to emphasize function first. 
Children talk about interesting things of their ex- 
perience — pets, toys, visits, excursions, stories, in- 
cidents of home and of school life — about anything 
that gives the basis of interesting imagery that seeks 
expression in language. In repeated experiences of 
this vital sort, they learn gradually in the attempt to 
make their companions understand and feel as they do, 
and through the incidental suggestions of the teacher, to 
use better forms of speech and to organize their thought 
in connected form. In the course of time, the need may 
appear for special instruction in certain elements of 
technique. Lessons may then be given which focus 
upon those things which have been made necessary by 
the experience of the class itself. Thus the instruc- 
tion in the technique of grammatical forms is not a 
purely formal process separate from the situations 
in which these forms will be used. It is not something 
which has been determined by an analysis of language 
as a science, and, after having been so determined, 
forced upon the class in advance of any idea of its 
bearing or significance. It is not studied merely in 



262 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

anticipation of some possible future use, but to meet 
an actual present need of better control over the lan- 
guage process. 

In all the thought subjects from kindergarten to 
college the same principle applies. Thinking is a func- 
tion, it is mental activity carried on with reference to 
a purpose or end. Thinking has its characteristic 
technique by means of which the highest efficiency 
is attained. But we cannot train pupils to think 
merely by giving them the elements of this tech- 
nique and drilling upon them. Thinking does not 
develop through the mastery of adult methods, manip- 
ulation of forms of the analysis of problems, learning 
of definitions and formulae which summarize thought. 
It comes first of all through the actual struggle with 
problems which are real to the experience of the indi- 
vidual. He must use his own resources of knowl- 
edge, of imagination, of judgment, of organization 
of ideas as best he can. As he does this in repeated 
instances, he will come to a realization of the need 
of better control of his knowledge such as is given 
by formulating definitions and principles; he will 
be confronted by the necessity of specialized methods 
of attack, of better methods of solution, and of better 
tests of conclusions. Then he is ready for help in 
gaining control of the elements of technique character- 
istic of trained thinkers. I do not mean to say that 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 263 

all this training in technique will come at the end of a 
long period of exercise of function. It will go hand in 
hand with practice in thinking, the simpler elements 
coming earlier and the more complex later. The main 
thing is that the training in technique shall not be in 
advance of use for it, but rather as the means of con- 
trolling the thinking process more fully. In mathe- 
matics, grammar, and Latin, there is an especially 
strong tendency to emphasize the elements of tech- 
nique out of their setting. In these subjects, the analy- 
sis of the finished products of adult thinking and or- 
ganization is comparatively easy; and we need to be 
on our guard more especially against the violation of 
the principle of function first and technique afterwards. 

From the concrete to the abstract. 

Meaning of the terms, — In the growth and develop- 
ment of the mental experience, there is no sharp line 
of demarcation between the concrete and the abstract. 
For our purposes we may distinguish the two in terms 
of the degree of symbolism involved. Where there 
is little of symbolism and meanings are grasped rather 
directly and immediately, we have the concrete ; where 
there is more symbolism and meanings are gotten in- 
directly and by means of things signified, we have the 
abstract, or the more abstract. In the abstract, mean- 
ings are set free from the original setting of concrete 



264 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

experience in which they grew up and are carried by 
symbols. There are many degrees of abstraction. 
Some degree of symbohsm is likely to be found wher- 
ever imagination and thought enter at all. It is a 
law of mental economy to let some part of a complex 
experience stand for the whole. Not every item of the 
original experience is likely to be reinstated for the 
purpose of thought ; the mind is selective in its activity, 
dropping out portions of the original experience and 
utilizing only what is significant for present purposes. 
I am not likely to call up in my mind for thought pur- 
poses the complete visual picture of any tree that I 
know, the complete auditory image of a song or a bit 
of conversation that I have heard, or the complete 
muscular feeling of a game of tennis that I have played. 
If my purpose is identification, as in memory, I may 
call up more of the concrete setting than if my purpose 
is to make some connection of thought through the 
grasp of meaning. But in either case there is a certain 
amount of symbolism. I allow some part of the original 
experience, some outstanding feature to become the 
significant or indicative thing about it. With the 
development of language, arbitrary word symbols come 
to take the place of this, and I have advanced a step 
farther in abstraction. The more completely I rely 
for my understanding of things on the setting of 
particular original experiences, the more is my thought 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD ^65 

concrete; the more freely I handle meanings through 
symbols the more completely is my thought abstract. 
Bothconcreteness and abstractness are matters of degree, 
of more or less relatively. I can say that arithmetic is 
more concrete than algebra, or that it is less abstract 
than algebra; and I can say that algebra is more 
abstract than arithmetic, or that it is less concrete. 
The terms concrete and abstract are relative to each 
other, not absolute. They indicate a sliding scale of 
symbolism on which I may note the degree either of 
concreteness or the degree of abstractness of ideas. 

Emphasis on concrete as basis of meaning, — In our 
formulation of method, we are concerned with the 
question of the conditions under which emphasis 
should be put upon the concrete and under what 
conditions we should seek the more abstract formula- 
tions. First, we shall discuss the concrete. It is 
evident that symbols have no value except in terms 
of what they signify, or the meanings they carry. 
The American flag has no meaning to the wild man of 
Borneo. It is simply something that attracts his 
attention by its bright colors fluttering in the breeze. 
To the American citizen traveling abroad it is a sym- 
bol of his nation's power and protection. It has mean- 
ing for him because he can translate the symbol into 
specific concrete experiences which it suggests, such 
as the following: If I am interfered with here, I can 



266 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

appeal to the American consul, who will see that my 
rights are protected. All the symbols of learning are 
valueless except as they can be translated on demand, 
or in case of need, into the terms of specific concrete 
situations. In the technique of instruction, then, the 
primary problem is that of meaning, or understand- 
ing. Meanings grow out of particular concrete experi- 
ences ; they depend on the establishment of bonds of 
connection between specific situations and the appro- 
priate responses to them. Consequently enrichment 
of concrete experience lies back of the understanding 
of all the subjects that we teach. All that was said 
in our previous discussion of the enrichment of experi- 
ence applies here. If my task in arithmetic is to de- 
velop the meaning of addition, then I must resort to 
every form of concrete experience that will build up 
this meaning. I must have the pupils go through the 
activities of putting together and counting many dif- 
ferent kinds of units until it is clear that when we ask 
for the sum of two numbers we want the total number 
of units that comes from putting them all together. 
When this meaning is once developed and grasped, 
it is absurd to think that the use of concrete materials 
is superior to abstract in the teaching of addition. On 
the contrary, when the problem is no longer that of 
developing the meaning of addition but of teaching the 
additive combinations, it is a very great waste of 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 267 

time to drill on such exercises as 3 apples plus 5 apples, 
5 horses plus 6 horses, 4 quarts of water plus 7 quarts 
of water, etc. What we want established here is the 
firm association 3 + 5 = 8, 5 + 6 = 11, 4 + 7 = 11, 
etc. For this purpose the abstract forms are superior 
to the concrete. So it would be in multiplication; 
if it is a question of the meaning of the process, then 
that meaning must be developed through a sufficient 
number of concrete experiences of finding out what 
3 fours make, what 5 sixes make, etc. After the mean- 
ing is clear, the multiplication combinations can be 
learned more rapidly and more effectively for further 
use without any reference to the concrete experiences 
of addition out of which they grew. In the teaching 
of algebra, the meaning of positive and negative num- 
bers has to be developed through a large number of 
concrete cases of the applicability of these terms and 
the use of the signs that designate the opposite quanti- 
tative relationships. In general, the use of the con- 
crete in our method of teaching is either for the purpose 
of developing meaning or for the purpose of making the 
meaning clear. In every stage of the educative process, 
it is a question that method has to raise continually, 
"Will the pupil understand.^" Before taking up any 
new topic, we need to raise a lot of specific questions 
such as the following : Do I need to provide more ob- 
jective materials .f^ more pictures, charts, diagrams, 



268 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

models, vivid descriptions, supplementary readings? 
Is there need of insisting on constructive and expres- 
sive activities ? My experience in supervising practice 
teachers leads me to believe that it is one of the com- 
monest faults of beginners to plunge into the symbols 
of a subject too rapidly, not providing enough of illus- 
trative and supplementary material to serve as an ade- 
quate basis of understanding the new ideas. With 
our understanding that concrete and abstract are rela- 
tive terms, the principle enunciated would not mean 
that in all cases of teaching new subject matter or of 
dealing with new abstract notions we should go all 
the way back to the physically concrete situations. 
In any case we would go back far enough for our con- 
nections to make sure that the new symbols are capable 
of translation into the more familiar. Exponent, 
when taught in arithmetic, must become something 
more than a little figure to the right and a little above 
a quantity to indicate how many times it is used as 
a factor. It must be possible for the pupil to translate 
this symbol into the more familiar arithmetical equiva- 
lent, for example 4^ = 4x4x4. The rules in Latin 
grammar are not understood unless the pupil can 
actually translate them in terms of concrete illustra- 
tions of their application. The test of the understand- 
ing of the abstract is always the ability to translate 
it into some set of more familiar terms. There must 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 269 

always be enough attention given to the concrete to 
make certain such a grasp of meaning as will make all 
the abstract terms translatable.^ 

Emphasis on concrete as basis for realism, — Method 
might rightly resort to the concrete for another pur- 
pose than that of making sure of meaning. In many 
cases there is a large immediate interest in that which 
is relatively concrete; hence the starting point of 
motivation might be found in the concrete method 
of approach to a new subject. This can be more 
readily explained if put in a little diflferent form. 
The educational demand for the concrete has been, 
from the time of Bacon and Comenius, in large part a 
call for a larger element of realism in education. The 
thing is more real than its symbol, the meaning than 
the printed word. This larger sense of reality inherent 
in the concrete is apt to make it more interesting, it 
seems more relevant and less remote from life. But 
we must not narrowly confine the meaning of concrete 
in this sense to physical, tangible objects. Objects as 
such are isolated things and have little or no value. In 
so far as they play a part in activities they become related 
to the self as things to be used or avoided; also in 
activities objects get related to one another and have a 
significance as playing a part in some process or 
processes that are of concern. Activities, events, pro- 

^See Miller, "Psychology of Thinking," ch. 12. 



270 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

cesses are just as concrete and real as objects, perhaps 
more so. The method of reahsm fundamentally means 
beginning with the self-activities and utilizing every- 
thing that is relevant to their realization. The story 
which the primary child reads may be more real to him 
than any quantity of pictures of scenery. Realism, or 
concreteness, is in part the way things strike me; it is 
relevancy to my experience, not merely physical and 
tangible existence, that counts. A large part of the 
concreteness of the method of projects is to be found in 
this larger sense of reality, of relevancy to me. The 
rightly selected project grows out of practical or in- 
tellectual experience and fits into it with a sense of 
belonging-together-ness. At this point it might be 
well to call attention to the fact that the value of the 
laboratory method has often been misconceived. It 
does not justify itself merely on the ground that it 
deals with physical things. The laboratory problems 
and the laboratory materials may be just as abstract 
and remote from the experience of the pupil as any- 
thing which the scientist is apt to condemn in the 
despised Greek grammar. There may be just as little 
that is real in it in the sense of touching the life of the 
pupil as there is in literary criticism imposed upon 
pupils who have never read the authors under dis- 
cussion. I have seen pupils dissect cats and rabbits in 
a class in biology, doing it according to directions 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 271 

laid down in the laboratory manual, for whom the whole 
process was as formal and meaningless as memorizing 
nonsense syllables. The fact that they could touch the 
materials with their fingers and see them with their eyes 
did not make them real to them any more than it 
makes learning nonsense syllables real because you 
can see them in print and hear them when you recite 
them. Laboratory chemistry and laboratory physics 
are often very unreal to girls. Starting with the con- 
crete in these sciences means not so much starting with 
material things as it does starting with things that 
connect with the life and experience of pupils. It 
means, as we said in another place, approaching 
chemistry for girls through domestic science and for 
boys through agriculture and industrial processes that 
are familiar. It means starting physics with very 
familiar and real problems of the home and the com- 
munity. It means starting civics with the policeman, 
the playground, the fire department, the natatorium, 
the parks, the collection of garbage, the cleaning of 
streets, the collection of taxes, etc., instead of starting 
it with an analysis of the principles underlying govern- 
ment. In English, the principle of realism demands 
larger emphasis on story, plot, and human interest 
and a delay in the emphasis on grammar and literary 
criticism. When we speak of starting with the concrete 
in our method of instruction, we must keep in mind this 



272 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

double sense of the word concrete — one sense in which 
it stands pretty largely for things present to the senses 
as opposed to symbols, the other for that which is real, 
or relevant to me, as opposed to the formal. 

Why and when emphasis falls on the abstract, — While 
the method of instruction must start with the con- 
crete in order to insure grasp of meaning and sense of 
reality, it is equally important to remember that it 
must get to the abstract. We ought not to keep pupils 
weltering forever in the sea of the concrete. In the 
progress of science there is a continuous movement 
toward more and more abstract formulations. In the 
growth of experience there ought to be this same 
movement. To use ideas freely and effectively in 
thought processes we have to get them set free from the 
specific associations of experience. When we talk about 
an island we don't want the idea tied down forever to a 
particular setting of experience. The original expe- 
rience with an island may have been with one that was 
covered with a grove where picnics were frequently 
held. Now, if every time we thought "island" all 
this detailed setting should flash into mind it might 
easily divert attention from the main function of the 
idea. We don't want thought switched off to groves 
and picnics, we want it focused upon a particular 
kind of land form. So it is with the idea "heat" in 
physics. We don't want it to carry with it at all 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 273 

times the fringe of associations that shall make us 
think inevitably of particular experiences with fire- 
places, stoves, bonfires, and August weather. We 
want the idea to carry only that meaning which is 
necessary for our scientific problem. The idea must 
be set free from its concrete setting and become sym- 
bolic. When we get away from our ordinary expe- 
riences with heat and see it from the angle of the physi- 
cist as a mode of motion, this abstract idea serves better 
the scientific function of interpretation and explanation 
of heat in terms of law. The power of thought is 
enhanced ; heat can be correlated with light and elec- 
tricity and its nature seen in a larger set of relationships, 
in a system of natural forces. The added power of 
thought that comes from the development of symbolism 
is readily seen when we compare arithmetic and alge- 
braic processes. Algebra solves with comparative ease 
problems that arithmetic finds complicated and difii- 
cult. This same principle applies in every field of 
science; where abstract concepts, laws, and principles 
are attained, they give added power of correlation of 
fact with fact, stronger grasp of subject matter in its 
wider relations, a more fundamental basis of inter- 
pretation and explanation, and a tremendous increment 
in both intellectual and practical control of the fields 
of experience concerned. The practical achievements 
of the last half century in the invention of bicycles. 



274 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

automobiles, electric lights, telephones, wireless teleg- 
raphy, moving pictures, graphophones, electrically pro- 
pelled vehicles, and hundreds of other things that 
contribute to the convenience and comfort of life all 
rest back on abstract formulations of mathematics , 
and science. The attainment of laws and principles 
in these fields made it possible to get back at reality 
from new angles and with added power of control over 
things and forces of nature. Progress in medical 1 
science and practice, in mental hygiene, in sanitation, 
in social and industrial organization is dependent on 
the same law of advance from the concrete to the ab- 
stract and the return of the abstract upon reality with 
an added grip. From this point of view, methods of 
education that fail to develop the power on the part 
of the pupil to reach the fundamental abstract ideas in 
the great departments of study and to use them in- 
telligently have failed to put him in command of the 
tools of modern life. It is a vicious thing to emphasize 
the concrete in education if that means stopping there 
permanently. The principle of method is to begin 
with the concrete and push on to the abstract. There 
must be continuous reconstruction of the experience 
of the pupil, involving larger and larger control of the 
symbols that give power to thought. 

Relationship between abstract and concrete in use of 
textbooks, — There is another problem of method that is 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 275 

concerned with the maintenance of right working rela- 
tionships between the concrete and the abstract when 
we are compelled to use textbooks. The materials of 
education as they are formulated in our textbooks 
abound in symbols derived from, and characteristic of, 
adult thought perfectly intelligible to us. We need to 
be on our guard against the process of merely imposing 
these symbols upon children for whom they do not 
necessarily have meaning. It is so easy apparently for 
children to memorize words, definitions, and technical 
terms in reading, geography, arithmetic, science, and 
other subjects that we fail to realize that what they get 
may be a mass of meaningless symbols after all. They 
may even bring under control rather complex processes 
in arithmetic, grammar, and algebra and still be doing 
nothing but cleverly juggling with symbols. It is in- 
structive to the young teacher to inquire into the under- 
standing of the average city class of children when it 
comes to glibly reading about wheat, dairy, plow, har- 
row, etc. It will doubtless give something of a shock 
to find that for many of the class these are mere words. 
Such symbols have no value if they cannot be trans- 
lated into some sort of meaningful equivalents. We 
adults can take such abstract and technical terms as 
balance of trade, tariff, exponent, patriotism, molecule, 
bilateral, etc., and construct particular situations to 
which they apply. It is because of this fact that they 



276 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

have meaning for us and can contribute to our thought 
processes. But to transfer these terms to children with- 
out developing any background of concrete experience 
from which they shall derive their meaning is to leave 
them in their consciousness as untranslatable symbols. 
It is this thing more than anything else that kills the 
power of thought. It has been experimentally demon- , 
strated that a large part of the errors of children are due ^ 
to failure to get meanings rather than to the difficulty 
in thought processes involved. In other words, these 
errors are due to a difficulty in reading, in interpreting 
symbols. The difficulty has centered in the lack of 
power to translate the abstract terms of the problem 
over into more concrete and familiar terms. Any one 
who has ever taught arithmetic or algebra has seen the 
truth of this again and again. The solution of most of 
the problems is relatively easy as soon as it is per- 
fectly clear what the language in which the problem 
is stated actually means, particularly as soon as the , 
pupil can construct mentally or practically particular ? 
concrete situations which this language symbolizes. 
The method of instruction must be such that there 
will be given abundant practice in the weaving to and 
fro between the concrete things of familiar experience 
and the abstract ideas essential to the higher thought 
processes. By this is meant that concrete situations 
must be studied which are summarized and expressed 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 277 

in terms of the more compact symbols of thought, and 
again these symbols must be repeatedly translated 
back into the concrete situations for which they stand. 
Thus the abstract symbols become free and flexible 
means of expression of real thought, and they get the 
tang of reality and familiarity which makes it un- 
necessary to go back to the more primary experiences 
in order to understand. 

From the psychological to the logical. 

Meaning and nature of the psychological and the logical. 
— The distinction between the psychological and the 
logical is a very important one for education. So far 
as it concerns method, we are interested in methods 
of logical organization of subject matter and in methods 
of logical thinking. To what extent, and in what 
ways, can we train pupils to be logical in either or both 
of these respects ^ To be perfectly clear as to the na- 
ture of the problem, we shall need to explain what we 
mean by the distinction between logical and psycho- 
llogical. 

I In general, psychology is interested in the entire 
complex of mental processes — intellectual, affective, 
and volitional — that it finds in the actual working 
bf the mind in any case under analysis. It tries to 
find out what goes on, and what are the laws of mental 
Ruction that will explain what takes place. Logic is 



278 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

interested in the mental process primarily from the 
angle of the intellectual activities, and in these from 
the point of view of their efficiency in getting the truth 
and exhibiting it in systematic form to others. In 
a sense of the word logic is a special phase of psy- 
chology, the study of the intellectual activities criti- 
cal of themselves. There is no conflict, then, between 
the psychological and the logical; they represent 
different aspects and stages of the same experience. 
They are related to each other as the cruder, less 
specialized, and less finished products of mind to the 
more refined, more specialized, and more finished. 
Professor Dewey ^ has suggested a very interesting 
analogy which will help to clear up the distinction 
between the psychological and the logical and also to 
show their relation to each other. He suggests that 
we liken the psychological aspect of experience to the 
activity of the explorer and the logical to the activity 
of the same man when he is making a map. In the 
latter case, he is checking up and organizing the more 
primary experiences with reference to their meaning, 
significance, and the relationship of the results of his 
exploration to one another. The map is very different 
from the actual experiences, facts are not shown there 
in the order or in the relationship of their discovery, 
they are exhibited in their relationship to one another. 

1 Dewey, "The Child and the Curriculum," pp. 25, 26. 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 279 

The map indicates none of the wanderings and retrac- 
ing of steps of the explorer; it is simply a summary 
of results achieved. The map is objective and uni- 
versal; the exploration was subjective and personal. 
What is true in the case of the map is true quite gen- 
erally of all the finished products of human activity. 
The relationship of the parts to one another in the 
electric lamp, in the automobile, in the wireless teleg- 
raphy outfit indicates little as to the actual processes, 
either mental or physical, of their inventors in perfect- 
ing them. It is only the final organization that we see. 
In the solution of an original theorem in geometry there 
may be very complex processes of mental activity, in- 
volving much trial and error, many windings and turn- 
ings of the mind; the finished demonstration shows 
only the results in the necessary relations of one set 
of facts to another. It is, like the map of the explorer, 
only a summary of that which was significant. It ex- 
hibits ideas and their relationship to one another not 
in the order of their original experience, but only in 
their relationship to one another in a clear-cut and con- 
vincing proof .^ The child who plays much in the gar- 
den, in the field, and in the forest will learn a great many 
things about flowers. But what he learns will lie in his 
mind connected by the ties of association that were pe- 
culiar to his own experience. If he becomes a botanist 

^See my "Psychology of Thinking," pp. 139-141, for a detailed illustration. 



280 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

later, this psychological organization of knowledge 
will be reconstructed in terms of the relationship of 
the facts to one another in the light of principles of 
plant growth and development. The subjective ele- 
ment will vanish; the final organization will be 
objective and indicate little or none of the actual 
processes of experience through which the facts were 
gained. 

All of the illustrations that we have used indicate 
that there is a distinction worth noting between the 
psychological and the logical aspects of experience, 
and at the same time that the two are related to each 
other. It is particularly important to note that the 
logical is an outgrowth of the psychological; it pre- 
supposes more primary experience upon which it rests. 
For the people who make the logical organizations of 
facts, their whole meaning and significance rests back 
upon the fact that they are organizations of their experi- 
ences. The various textbooks used in our schools in 
arithmetic, geography, history, science, and other sub- 
jects represent summaries of experience along certain 
lines; they have meaning and significance to their 
authors in so far as they represent the solutions of their 
own problems. In marshaling the facts and organizing 
them into textbook form, they went through long 
processes of sifting, selecting, judging, and relating 
facts to one another which do not appear in the text- 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 281 

books. The textbooks are the solutions, or finished 
products; they represent the logical aspect of preced- 
ing experiences that we would call psychological. 

Real value of the textbook, — Since we are more or less 
obliged to use textbooks in the schools, the question of 
method of their use becomes significant as soon as we 
understand that they represent a different order of expe- 
rience from that of the pupil. We have to ask. What is 
the value of this logically organized material ? and how 
does it get meaning for the pupil ? If we return to the 
analogy of the map, we shall get some very fruitful 
suggestions. The map of New York City would have 
no value for the average Hottentot. He has had no 
first-hand experiences of city life that would make its 
symbols intelligible to him. There is no basis in the 
psychological order of his experience for the grasp of 
the logical. Still further, his interests and his prob- 
lems are not developing along lines that lead to any 
need of this kind of charted experience. It is all re- 
mote from his life. But, let the traveler from Paris 
come to New York, and the map of the city will have 
very great value for him. If it is well made, it will 
indicate to him many of the things that are most worth 
seeing. He can find this out without going through 
all the trouble of wandering around the streets and 
discovering for himself what are the main points of 
interest. Doubtless there is much satisfaction in this 



282 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

kind of sightseeing, but it is also very wasteful of time 
and energy. When he has determined the points of 
interest from the map, then he can take the shortest 
and most direct routes to them. The map indicates 
the relative positions of these points to one another ; 
he can consequently determine in advance his course 
from any point to any other and make sure of reach- 
ing his destination. The map, of course, is no fair 
substitute for the actual experience; the visitor from 
Europe certainly would not be satisfied with just a 
map. It is of value to him only in so far as he is a 
seeker of actual experiences. It then guides his judg- 
ment as to what is significant and enables him to find 
it in the least possible time. Now, the logically or- 
ganized subject matter of the school textbooks has 
value and significance to our pupils under exactly the 
same sort of conditions that a map or a Baedeker's 
guide does to the traveler. If the pupil's experience is 
already moving in the direction of satisfaction of 
certain vital interests, if he is really trying to get 
somewhere, organized subject matter that will help 
him to know what is most worth while and that can 
be used to shape his course more economically has 
great value. It is then not something imposed upon 
him arbitrarily from without to be learned and re- 
cited ; it is rather something that helps him to enrich, 
reconstruct, and organize his experience. It is from 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 283 

this point of view that the doctrine of motivation, 
stimulation of needs, and utiKzation of projects and 
problems becomes so important. The psychological 
background of experience is laid which makes the 
organized bodies of scientific knowledge useful and 
necessary in the life of the pupil. 

Problem of the right use of the textbook. — To come 
back specifically to the problem of method, we 
might say that there are three different modes of 
procedure in the use of textbooks. One of these is 
to impose the logically organized material upon the 
pupil directly as something to be learned in the hope 
and expectation that it will be useful to him sometime 
later. If our analogy of the map holds good, this is 
condemned at the outset ; it would be like asking the 
Hottentot to study the map of New York City when 
he had no experience of city life on the one hand, 
and on the other no thought or purpose of his own of 
leaving his native wilds. A second method of proce- 
dure is to "psychologize" the subject matter. This 
means to take the material of the textbook as a guide 
for teacher and pupil, but not expect the pupil to learn 
it until it has been reconstructed in terms of the child's 
experience. For example, the teacher has reached the 
point in regular order of the text for teaching the table 
of linear measure in arithmetic. He does not ask 
whether the pupil has any use for this table now. It 



284 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

is there to be taught. But he will not merely superim- 
pose this knowledge upon the mind of the pupil. He 
will psychologize the subject matter. He wall call 
up all the experiences that children have had with feet, 
inches, yards, etc. If these experiences have been 
lacking or meager, he will supplement them and de- 
velop them. He will not necessarily teach the facts 
of the textbook just as they stand, he will select from 
them certain that he can relate best to the experience 
of the class and later relate the others to these. After 
considerable reconstruction of the subject matter, he 
may finally teach the table and drill upon it until it is 
mastered. In like manner, one would psychologize 
the subject matter of the lesson in geography, in gram- 
mar, or in history by relating it as carefully and fully 
as possible to the more primary and familiar experiences 
of the class which would make it meaningful to them. 
This method of procedure would employ the well- 
know Herbartian doctrine of apperception. It is a 
great advance on the first method of teaching. The 
third method of dealing with the logically organized 
subject matter of the textbook would difiPer from the 
other two primarily in the fact that it would start 
with the experience of the pupil instead of starting with 
the subject matter of the textbook. The first question 
is not. What is the next lesson in the textbook? It is 
rather, What is the state of the present experience of 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 285 

the pupil? What are his needs? Then we ask, 
What subject matter can I find that will satisfy these 
needs? We try to confront pupils progressively with 
situations that make them conscious of new needs, 
that make certain facts and bodies of facts necessary 
for them. Resort may be had to the textbook to find 
the facts in a convenient form for the solution of prob- 
lems, or to find the answers to questions that arise. 
To take the illustration of linear measure once more, 
no attention would be paid to the textbook material 
until such time as the projects of manual training, of 
domestic science, or some other form of activity, had 
created situations calling for the use of the measures 
foot, inch, yard, etc., and had given preliminary con- 
crete experience of their meaning and value. Such 
experience soon makes it evident that it would be more 
convenient to have these measures under thorough- 
going control for more effective use. Then the organ- 
ized material of the textbook becomes significant, 
useful, valuable. There is here no problem of psy- 
chologizing subject matter, no special problem of ap- 
perception, because subject matter is not being imposed 
upon an unready mind, but rather being sought to meet 
a real need at a time when it is relevant and meaning- 
ful. The movement has been up from the experience 
of the pupil to the subject matter which is needed in the 
reconstruction and development of that experience, in- 



286 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

stead of being from the subject matter to the pupil. 
To use the analogy of the Baedeker's guide once more, 
just imagine a situation in which you are yourself 
about to make a trip to Paris. You want to go there 
to see the sights of interest, to study works of art, 
to visit the schools and universities. The Baedeker 
is a source of organized material suited to your pur- 
poses. Imagine how eagerly you would read it as 
contrasted with your attitude toward the same thing 
before you had any idea whatever of visiting Paris. 
If we could only have that sort of attitude toward, 
and interest in, the subject matter of the curriculum 
of our schools, the ideal of educational method would 
be realized. I am not so visionary and impractical 
as to suppose that this is possible under all the actual 
conditions of school work; but it is the goal toward 
which we strive in educational method. It is an ideal 
which we approximate when we conceive of the logi- 
cally organized subject matter of our school studies as the 
remote goal of the evolving experience of pupils — a goal 
which is reached only through continuous reconstruc- 
tion of the actual experiences of children. The prob- 
lem of method, from this point of view, is not so much 
that of psychologizing subject matter as it is that of 
finding subject matter that is adapted to the needs of 
the pupil and of training him in the processes of dis- 
covery and use of such material for himself. Methods 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 287 

of teaching then become the counterparts of good 
methods of studying.^ 

Problem of training in logical thinking. 

The other problem of method inherent in the rela- 
tion between the psychological and the logical is that 
of training pupils in so-called "logical power." This 
is more properly conceived, according to current psy- 
chology, as the problem of training in the methods and 
habits of logical thinking. It has been commonly 
thought in the past, or carelessly taken for granted, that 
the study of logically organized material gave the train- 
ing in question. Going through the logical formula- 
tions of grammar and of geometry was supposed to give 
training in reasoning. But, if our analysis is correct, 
the real logical power involved in the map-making 
of the explorer and in the solution of the theorems of 
geometry was displayed by the one who successfully 
organized his own experiences and put them in the 
compact and thoroughly related terms of the chart or 
the demonstration. To do these things required logical 
ability and command of logical methods of organization. 
If we attach any significance at all to the laws of habit- 
formation, we cannot expect pupils to possess such 
logical ability or to exercise competent control over logi- 
cal methods without first going through the activities 

^ This is the point of view of McMurry's " How to Study." 



288 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

for themselves of perfecting through repeated experi- 
ences more and more the logical organization of ideas 
and of mental activities. No amount of superimposing 
the finished forms of grammar, of geometry, or of in- 
ductive science upon the minds of pupils can train them 
in the actual reasoning processes. Here, at the best, 
they are only following the thought of another, not 
thinking for themselves and learning how to organize 
and control their thought processes to better advantage. 
One does not necessarily make his own thinking more 
logical by going through the final processes of another's 
logical thinking. Only by going through the struggle 
of organizing his own ideas can he learn the methods of 
attack and of solution of problems that we call logical ; 
and only in this process many times repeated does he 
develop the logical habits of thought. 

There is little doubt that the power of logical thought 
and logical organization of material is relatively later 
to develop than the psychological. But we must be 
careful to understand that there may be a logical ele- 
ment even in the thinking of the little child. The 
main consideration of method is that the logical be 
not forced ahead of the more primary experiences on 
which it rests. In the field of the familiar, there is no 
reason why the young pupil should not learn to judge 
what is relevant to certain purposes, to select wisely 
the facts needed, and to organize them in such a way 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 289 

as to make them effective. While he may not give 
the same sort of an organization as the teacher would, 
nevertheless it may be an organization that is not 
wholly haphazard. He may write his composition 
with an eye to the effect that it will have upon the 
reader or upon the class when it is read. If he does so, 
he cannot simply ramble on and on cataloguing facts 
about his experience on the farm. He must recon- 
struct his original experiences, leaving out some, 
selecting others, amplifying some, slurring others, and 
putting some in sequence that were widely scattered. 
He must organize the results much as the explorer 
organizes the results of his explorations in making a map. 
So it will be with his nature study experiences; they 
must not be left to lie in his mind in just the order 
and in just the setting of relationships in which they 
were experienced. Little by little the relationship of 
facts to one another must be seen in the light of prin- 
ciples. The stories of history lead to the study of the 
relationship of events to one another and to the problems 
of social life of an age and the progress of civilization. 
New connections are constantly being established, and 
subject matter reorganized in the light of principles 
of historic development. Both logical power and the 
methods of logical organization grow gradually out of 
the sifting, judging, relating, and organizing of the 
more primary psychological experiences. 



290 EDUCATION FOE THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

From self-expression to art appreciation. 

Genetic basis of appreciation, — Until recently almost 
all discussions of method in education ignored the ele- 
ment of appreciation. But the enjoyment of music, 
painting, sculpture, literature, and other forms of art is 
a very real part of complete living. Every one has a 
right to some cultivation of his power to appreciate the 
finest and best things. This power may be more satisfy- 
ing for more years to most people than many of the other 
things that we stress in school. By what methods can 
appreciation be developed.'^ Both racial and genetic 
psychology seem to agree that the basis of art expression 
is to be found in interesting experiences which kindle the 
imagination and stir the emotions.^ The tendency is 
natural to reproduce such situations in some form 
that will objectify the imagery and get the emotional 
thrill again. Primitive men thus celebrated in dance, 
pantomimic gesture, song, story, drawing, and carving 
the thrilling experiences of the hunt, of war, of the in- 
auguration of a chief, etc. Wherever balance, rhythm, 
and harmony were hit upon they enhanced the emo- 
tional effect and later came to be recognized as special 
elements in the technique of art. One of the primary 
functions of such art expression which tended to favor 
its evolution was the social contagion of emotion, 

* See Dewey's Article on Art, in the " Monroe Encyclopedia of Education." 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 291 

with its unifying effect. Hence the festal element 
was especially prominent in primitive art. It is also 
an element that appeals strongly to children. One 
of the most interesting of all classes of experience are 
the free creative activities. God himself is represented 
in the first chapter of Genesis as looking repeatedly 
upon his creative work as it unfolded and seeing that 
"it was good." There was an evident thrill of satis- 
faction in beholding the work of his hands. This is 
equally true of the creative activities of human beings ; 
it is especially noticeable in the life of little children 
when they achieve any new thing. The baby who 
stands alone for the first time is likely to grin from 
ear to ear and to want to repeat the act at once and 
have it noticed by others. The same is true of all sorts 
of achievements. How often the child runs to mother 
or to the teacher to show what he has done with his 
blocks, with his pencil, his paints, or his tools ! 

Application to methods of teaching, — We have In 
the few principles of psychology just enunciated 
the basis for the formulation of the methods of cul- 
tivating art expression and art appreciation. Here, 
again, it is not through imposing finished prod- 
ucts upon the pupil for his admiration that art ap- 
preciation grows. The root of the matter is in his own 
activities. He must first go through experiences that 
kindle his imagination and stir his emotions until he 



292 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

cannot help expressing himself in some form of crea- 
tive activity that shall objectify his images. It does not 
matter at first that the form of his expression is crude 
and unartistic, if it is really his own in response to the 
vivid image and the feeling that press for release. If 
he gets the joy of achievement and gloats over what he 
has done, there is the beginning of real appreciation. 
I ■ It does not matter from this point of view whether 
the thing made is primarily useful or primarily orna- 
mental. The psychological effect is the same ; he has 
gone through the vital experience which serves as the 
basis of appreciation. When appreciation has adequate 
basis in actual thrilling achievement, we know that it 
can then run way beyond the power of the individual 
himself to produce art products. But, in all the funda- 
mental lines of appreciation, it is more important at 
the outset that the child undertake to express in some 
form the experiences that have kindled his imagina- 
tion than it is for him to be surrounded with art objects 
to be imitated or admired. It is more important that 
his free creative tendencies be released in channels 
of actual satisfying achievement than it is that he be 
taught about the fine points of art. The rule of func- 
tion first and the gradual introduction of technique 
holds good. Feeling and imagination must be culti- 
vated as the basis of appreciation, and there is no more 
fundamentally vital feeling than that of achievement 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 293 

of some sort. It is from this point of view that we have 
the basis also for the cultivation of appreciation in 
the broader sense of the word as applied to mathe- 
matics, science, history, and to social and moral situa- 
tions. Where there is progressive achievement in any 
of these directions, there appreciation is likely to de- 
velop and be strong. To the lover of mathematics, 
nothing is more beautiful than the finished, perfect 
convincing demonstration in geometry. To the scien- 
tist, there is admiration for every new discovery or 
invention that is the fruit of scientific research. Educa- 
tion should be concerned with appreciation of this sort 
as well as with art appreciation. The principles of 
method are the same here as in art. Appreciation must 
grow first out of self-expression and creative activity. 

The finished products of art produced by the great 
^masters are, of course, of great value. Their use should 
be cultivated even beyond that which now prevails. 
Their presence tends to refine sensibility unconsciously 
and in this way to modify standards. And at many 
points in the progress of the pupil, they may suggest 
ideas of order, arrangement, symmetry, harmony. For 
this purpose, however, their place is at the point when 
the pupil is ready for constructive criticism and im- 
provement, or when he has gone far enough in art 
expression to lay the basis of the more assimilative 
type of appreciation. 



294 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

Summary 

Method is an organization of processes for more rapid and effi- 
cient attainment of ends. Methods of teaching are not properly 
inventions of the instructor, but rather discoveries of the best 
methods of learning and an organization of all the resources that 
will facilitate normal learning processes. Intelligent formulation 
of methods of teaching depends on an understanding of the funda- 
mental natural educative processes. The most important of these 
are the following: self-activity, reconstruction of one's own ex- 
perience, enrichment, development, and control of experience. 
It is through these processes that the child normally brings himself 
into learning situations, profits by his experience, and makes it 
effective in meeting his needs. If instruction is to take its cue 
from normal learning processes, these determine certain principles 
of teaching. Instruction must begin by diagnosing the situation 
to discover the needs of the pupil and the resources at his command 
for meeting them. The pupil's effort will depend on securing 
adequate motivation. To this end, instruction must seek to make 
him conscious of his needs, and the teaching process must draw 
upon the sources of motivation to be found in the pupil's instincts 
and natural tendencies, his habits, ideals, and interests, practical 
situations calling for action, and the natural outreach of his mind 
as expressed in curiosity, imagination, and the challenge of prob- 
lems. The use of projects and problems relevant to the pupil's 
experience is likely to furnish motivation and at the same time pro- 
vide the types of situation that call forth all the essential learning 
activities. The normal learning process involves the performance 
of a function, motor or mental, to meet some need. Hence teach- 
ing should regard the performance of function as primary ; tech- 
nique is introduced gradually and emphasized as a necessary phase 
of improving functions and bringing them under better control. 
Closely associated with this principle is that of making the transi- 
tion gradually from the concrete and real to symbols, abstractions, 



THE PRINCIPLES OF METHOD 295 

and generalizations. The progress of the pupil should be marked 
by a very gradual transition from the psychological, or spontane- 
ous and natural, mental activities to those which are more thor- 
oughly controlled and logical. Appreciation comes first through 
self-expression and free creative activity. Observation and imita- 
tion of art objects, or models, can facilitate growth in apprecia- 
tion only where such growth is already naturally under way. 

Supplementary Readings 

Bagley, William C, The Educative Process, Chs. 16-22. 

Charters, W. W., Methods of Teaching. 

Charters, W. W., Teaching the Common Branches. 

Dewey, John, Democracy and Education, Ch. 13. 

Dewey, John, Interest and Effort in Education. 

Earhart, Lid a B., Types of Teaching. 

Freeman, Frank N., Psychology of the Common Branches. 

Hall, J. W., and Hall, A. N. K., The Question as a Factor in 

Teaching. 
Hall-Quest, Alfred L., Supervised Study. 
JuDD, Charles H., Psychology of High School Subjects. 
Kendall and Mirick, How to Teach the Fundamental Subjects. 
KiLPATRicK, William H., The Montessori System Examined. 
McMuRRY, Frank, How to Study. 
Montessori, Maria, Montessori' s Own Hand Booh. 
Parker, Samuel C, Methods of Teaching in High Schools. 
Scott, Colin A., Social Education. 

Strayer, George D., Brief Course in the Teaching Process. 
Strayer and Norsworthy, How to Teach. 



CHAPTER VI 
THE TEACHER 

What is the function of the teacher? Is it to impart 
knowledge and to give training ? Or is it to facilitate normal 
learning processes and help children meet the needs of life ? 
Why must teaching become a profession rather than a 
trade ? What elements enter into the training of the teacher 
— what requirements of scholarship, of knowledge of 
fundamental sciences, of specific professional studies? 
What is personality? What qualities of personality are 
necessary in teaching? Can personality be improved? 
Can we apply principles of vocational guidance in selecting 
candidates for training to teach ? What is the supervisor's 
part in making successful teachers? How can teachers 
in service continue to grow and keep pace with the changing 
needs of the profession ? 

The Function of the Teacher 

The child learns without the aid of any teacher. By 
a law of his nature he is continually reacting to his 
environment. He responds to situations which con- 
front him and thereby discovers what things satisfy 
him and how he can get them. His reactions become 
progressively more selective and his behavior is being 

296 



THE TEACHER 297 

continuously reconstructed in the light of his expe- 
rience. From the people by whom he is surrounded 
he is constantly getting hints as to what things are worth 
while and also as to methods of procedure that will 
gain him his ends. These suggestions he tends to adopt 
and thus facilitate his learning process and short-cir- 
cuit the acquisition of control. He picks up language, 
the elements of industrial processes, ideas, standards, 
methods of thought of the world in which he finds him- 
self. Whether among primitive people or in civilized 
communities, a large part of the child's learning is 
of this incidental sort. Such learning is exceedingly 
vital. It is bound to reflect the needs and interests of 
the learner. What he learns fits into his experience 
and is learned at the time and under the circumstances 
that it has value for him. Thus the Indian boy learned 
the use of bow and arrow and the secrets of woodcraft ; 
thus the Athenian adolescent learned the duties and the 
practice of citizenship and absorbed the higher culture 
of the age; thus the American boy of the near past 
learned farming, business, and the trades. The method 
was that of observation, participation, and imitation, 
which was supplemented in some cases with incidental 
instruction. Not only does such learning tend to be 
relevant to the needs of the learner but also to keep in 
close touch with the real world of human activities 
and interests. Its social reference is almost complete. 



298 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

If a teacher is brought into relation with the learning 
process, what more can be done than is already done ? 
under what conditions ? and in what way ? 

When life was simple almost everything that was 
worth while could be learned through direct observa- 
tion and participation; the child shared in the life 
and activities of the home and the community. Parents 
exercised a certain measure of control over the child's 
learning then as now by approving, rewarding, or 
punishing certain modes of behavior in the light of 
their superior insight and accumulated wisdom. Social 
approval and disapproval were also powerful in their 
influence on his ideas of values and the best methods 
of realizing them. But the home is a center for a 
great many other activities besides those of rearing 
children; hence the guidance and direction which it 
gives to their learning processes is apt to be fitful, 
spasmodic, and uncertain. And the influence of the 
social environment is even less intentionally exercised. 
As life becomes more complex, needs become more 
numerous and the social and industrial processes which 
meet them become more specialized and remote from 
the possibilities of early observation and participation 
on the part of the young. Under these conditions the 
incidental and unintentional learning activities prove 
inadequate. The teacher and the school become neces- 
sary. The learning of children needs more definite, 



THE TEACHER 299 

continuous, and intentional guidance than can be given 
by the home. Hence we have the speciahzed vocation 
of teaching. The teacher becomes the representative 
of the home and of society in the superior guidance and 
direction of the learning processes of children. 

It is the contention of the functionalist that the 
teacher introduces no new element into the educative 
process except that of guidance. It is in this factor 
that we see the function of the teacher. He is not a 
master or an instructor in the ordinary meaning of these 
terms. We have seen that the normal learning pro- 
cesses of children tend to be relevant to individual and 
social needs; they are real and vital. In introducing 
guidance and direction, we do not want these char- 
acteristics of learning to be displaced. The teacher 
is not to meet the child's needs for him but to help 
him to meet them himself. He is not merely to pass 
on, or transmit, knowledge, but to utilize the child's 
natural tendencies to activity in such ways that he 
will be confronted with situations which make knowl- 
edge necessary. He is not to train the child like a dog 
in habits and skills but to make habit formation and the 
perfection of skill a phase of the process whereby the 
child meets his needs more efficiently. This is very 
different from assigning lessons from textbooks and 
hearing children recite what they have memorized; 
it is very different from the stereotyped drills of the 



300 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

traditional school. It calls for a higher order of in- 
telligence and a superior type of skill. It requires an 
intimate and exact knowledge of the principles of child 
growth and development, a sympathetic and tactful 
insight into what is actually occurring in the unfolding 
lives of pupils, and a breadth and plasticity of knowl- 
edge of subject matter and materials of education far 
beyond the routine familiarity with the prescribed text- 
book. The teacher is a diagnostician, a leader, an 
inspirer, a guide of children. He helps them to short- 
circuit their learning processes and perfect the methods 
of meeting their needs. He introduces them to new 
forms of experience that they might not hit upon by 
chance. He sees to it that in living fuller and richer 
lives, they are also becoming better equipped to play their 
part in the larger world of human interests and activities. 
It is evident that the role of the teacher is not an 
easy one. The task is no longer one for amateurs. 
From the functional point of view it becomes increas- 
ingly important to ask who are fit to enter upon this 
vocation. What sort of people shall be designated to 
perform this social function.? What qualities shall 
they possess ? What training shall be required of them ? 
The answers to these questions may be approached by 
raising another question with which they are bound up, 
namely, Is teaching to be regarded as a trade or as a 
profession ? 



THE TEACHER 301 

Teaching as a Profession versus Teaching as a 

Trade 

Characteristics of a trade. 

A trade tends to specialize in a rather narrow range 
of activities. This can readily be seen by inspection of 
any one of the building trades, such as carpentry, 
masonry, plumbing, etc. In the matter of knowledge 
no one of these trades demands more than a rather 
detailed idea of means, processes, and customary rules 
of procedure that pertain to the craft in question. 
There must be sufficient intelligence to follow the direc- 
tions and specifications of superiors. Also there has 
to be a reasonable degree of skill. that has come from 
practice. The carpenter must know the use of the 
hammer, the saw, the plane, and other tools of his craft 
and he must have reasonable skill in their use. He must 
know what to do and how to do it in such processes 
as shingling a roof, laying a floor, putting timbers 
together, etc. ; and he must have a proper degree of 
accuracy and rapidity of control of these activities. 
In like manner, the activities of the mason, the plumber, 
and the painter move within a narrow range, calling 
for a limited amount of special knowledge, and demand- 
ing a somewhat specialized skill in the control of the 
processes involved. 



302 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

Characteristics of a profession. 

A profession like that of the architect, the physician, 
the engineer, or the journaHst deals with a more complex 
situation involving a wider range of activities. It calls 
correspondingly for the mastery of more fundamental 
types of knowledge and for less of merely routine skill. 
It calls for more initiative and originality. While 
there are certain routine processes in all house-planning, 
nevertheless the architect is continually dealing with a 
large range of variability. Houses vary in size, in 
number of rooms, in art qualities, in adaptation to 
function, in cost, in materials of construction, and 
scores of other respects. The architect has a very 
complex problem of adjustment of means to ends to 
be solved in practically every plan that he draws up. 
In a sense of the word, the house has to be, like the hat 
or the dress of the fashionable woman, a creation, a 
dream, a poem, not merely the reproduction of some- 
thing else. The architect has to be able to analyze 
situations, to think them through, to work out complex 
and highly interrelated modes of procedure in advance 
that shall nevertheless all fit together perfectly in the 
accomplishment of specific purposes. To do this he has 
to have a wider range of knowledge than that of any 
member of any of the building trades, and he has to 
have a grasp of the principles of several sciences which 



THE TEACHER 303 

will give him the power to interpret and correlate one 
fact with another. No amount of rote knowledge, 
however thoroughly under his control, no amount of 
mastery of rules and formulae, even associated with 
marked skill in drawing, would be sufficient to make an 
architect. 

Teaching as a profession. 

The difference between a trade and a profession is 
the difference between following rules that are given 
and utilizing principles in the construction of a method 
adapted to the specific case in hand. Under which 
head does the vocation of teaching tall? If teaching 
is a type of activity which is limited to the carrying out 
of directions or the following of specifications, calling 
only for a knowledge of means and processes, and re- 
quiring preeminently skill in the manipulation of 
schoolroom processes, then certainly teaching is a 
trade and not a profession. It must be confessed that 
under some systems of supervision teaching has little 
chance to rise above the level of a trade; and it is 
equally true that there are some teachers who would 
prefer to have their thinking done for them and to be 
left responsible only for the manipulation of certain 
prescribed processes. Where the attempt has been 
made to reduce teaching to the status of a trade, the 
work of the school has been so completely mechanized 



304 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

as to lose its vitality. It is coming to be seen more 
and more clearly that supervision does not mean sub- 
stituting the intelligence of the superintendent for that 
of the rank and file of the teaching corps, but rather 
the expert guidance and direction of that intelligence, 
the right focusing of it upon the problems of the 
schoolroom. No matter how fully the more compli- 
cated and far-reaching problems are taken over for 
solution by special ofiicers of supervision, there is 
always an irreducible minimum left for the classroom 
teacher that requires the use of his own intelligence in 
a more constructive way than in the case of a trade. 
In a sense of the word the teacher is always doing 
something unique, something that has never been done 
before in the same way. He is dealing all the time with 
a complex set of variables. He has to make repeated 
diagnoses like a physician, and he has to plan for new 
situations like an architect. From this point of view 
the vocation of teaching should be classed as a pro- 
fession. The teacher must be not merely a master of 
routine but also a master of crises. What sort of 
persons then shall be chosen for this profession.?^ and 
how shall they be trained ? We shall take up the second 
of these questions first. 



THE TEACHER 305 

The Professional Training of the Teacher 

TJie assumption that teaching is a profession rather 
than a trade implies training in all those subjects which 
furnish the underlying principles of the teaching art 
as well as preliminary practice before entering upon the 
duties of the vocation. The teacher must not only 
be able to do specific things when required, but must 
also understand why they are to be done. The under- 
standing of reasons which lie back of modes of procedure 
must be so complete that he can solve many of the 
problems which confront him for himself and devise 
methods of his own for dealing with them. To reach 
this level of art in teaching training along three lines 
is necessary : (1) a group of studies which insure 
scholarship, (2) a group of pure sciences which lie 
back of educational theory, and (3) a group of strictly 
professional studies, supplemented by directed ob- 
servation and practice teaching. 

Scholarship. 

The teacher stands in a special relationship of obliga- 
tion to society which makes more than average scholar- 
ship necessary. He professes to know certain things 
well enough to teach them to others. If he were to 
become a tailor, it would not be essential that he know 
a great deal about geography, history, arithmetic, etc. 



306 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

We believe that the tailor is apt to be a better citizen 
for training in the common elements of our civilization. 
But if he is lacking, or not up to the average, in these 
respects, he may be just as expert in his vocational 
work. So long as he makes good clothes, he is not 
defrauding his patrons by virtue of his ignorance, or 
lack of scholarship, in the common branches. A ready 
command of the mother-tongue is a good thing for 
any one, but a carpenter who uses incorrect English 
may earn his wage just as fully and defraud nobody 
because of his inability in English. But this is different 
with the teacher. He is being paid explicitly for his 
knowledge and skill in these branches of instruction 
which he professes to teach. He cannot earn his 
wage fairly and fully unless he has under superior 
control the bodies of knowledge essential to the pursuit 
of his craft. We call the physician who practices 
without an adequate knowledge of medicine such ugly 
names as impostor, charlatan, quack. We call the 
men who sell stocks that have no value crooks and 
swindlers. The teacher who professes to teach arith- 
metic, geography, Latin, mathematics, science, or other 
subjects when he knows no more about them than the 
average person is just as guilty of defrauding society as 
the quack in medicine or the stock swindler in business. 
It is pitiful to see men and women in prosperous and 
enlightened America permitted still in some cases to go 



THE TEACHER 307 

out to teach the common branches with a child's 
knowledge of arithmetic, English, geography, and other 
fundamental subjects. In some cases it is even worse 
than a child's knowledge ; for it has been supplemented 
with four years of forgetting these subjects while 
pursuing a high school course. It sometimes happens 
that to this four years of forgetting are added two more 
in the normal school, where the organization of its 
curriculum does not require the student to review these 
subjects in some form before taking a diploma. It 
stands to reason that the person who is to teach any one 
of the common branches ought to be required to have 
a more thoroughgoing understanding of it than that 
which was acquired before the age of fourteen years. 
The same principle applies to the prospective high 
school teacher. His grasp of such subjects as Latin, 
history, physics, etc., ought to be firmer and more 
secure and more far-reaching than that which char- 
acterized his work as a student of these subjects in 
high school. 

We may well ask what principles should determine 
the degree of scholarship essential to teaching. It 
always ought to involve academic specialization in 
the particular field or fields in which teaching is to 
be done. The elementary school teacher ought at 
least to review and intensify his knowledge of the 
common branches. To go over them again in the 



308 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

same way that they were studied in the first place is not 
adequate. The new study should give a wider and a 
more fundamental view of the subject matter. His 
knowledge of it should be intensified. Perhaps this 
kind of review is best conducted in connection with the 
problem of teaching the subject in question. In this 
case it becomes absolutely essential to get a different 
view of the subject matter from that which was acquired 
in childhood. The whole subject has to be canvassed 
anew with reference to the kinds of material that are 
available, their adaptation to use at different stages 
of development, and the methods of organization that 
are best for teaching. For the teacher in high school 
or college the same principle applies. He has no right 
to assume that he can teach a subject just because at 
some time or other he has himself studied it in an 
institution of learning. The teacher must have a more 
fundamental, comprehensive, and flexible control of 
the subject matter than he got at the level of his 
student life. 

Adequate scholarship for the purposes of teaching 
must go beyond the subjects to be taught and take 
account of those also which are intimately related to 
them. The teacher of such a simple subject as that of 
primary reading is not equipped for her task simply 
because she is a good reader. To teach reading well, 
particularly from the functional point of view, she 



THE TEACHER 309 

needs to know thoroughly the sources of good material. 
The stories in the readers are often fragmentary in 
character. She cannot interpret them aright or sup- 
plement them with added relevant material without 
knowing a great deal about juvenile literature. Courses 
in Greek mythology, English folk lore, Indian life, 
nature study, and English and American literature all 
play an important, and often a decisive, part in her 
equipment. Rhetoric, dramatic reading, and history 
make a decided contribution. There is hardly any 
limit to the literary lines of study that may contribute 
to the efficiency of a teacher of reading in the lower 
grades. I have purposely referred to the lower grades 
as the extreme case. Granted here, the principle is 
even more applicable when it comes to the more ad- 
vanced classes. Arithmetic is not fully comprehended 
by the teacher who has no understanding of algebra, 
geometry, and some simple sociology. The judgment of 
what to emphasize and what to neglect in the teaching 
of arithmetic is not trained except as arithemtic is seen 
in the light of its larger mathematical and social signifi- 
cance. This same principle holds with reference to 
the high school teacher of algebra and geometry. His 
training for teaching these subjects must include higher 
mathematics and the sciences and practical arts in 
which the mathematical element is important. If so 
much related material is necessary to the good teaching 



310 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

of reading and arithmetic, how much more is this true 
of such a subject as geography in which are found the 
elements of all the sciences. It must be remembered 
here that it is not because the teacher will teach this 
body of related material to his classes that he needs 
it. In some few cases, he will draw upon simple 
materials and principles that serve illustrative or 
supplementary purposes. But the value consists in 
large part in the training of his judgment of relative 
values in the portion of subject matter which he does 
teach, and in his added power to make what the pupil 
learns relevant to the problems of life and of further 
instruction. It is no insignificant value of this wider 
training in the subject that it develops a professional 
interest and enthusiasm which grows out of the con- 
sciousness of mastery and the intellectual comradeship 
of others working in the same field of human progress. 
This is a most precious thing in the life of the teacher, 
and it is bound to influence his whole attitude toward 
and interest in his work. ' 

Besides the scholarship that is involved in the mastery 
of the subjects to be taught and those which are inti- 
mately related to them, the teacher should have taken 
enough other subjects to make a well-rounded course. 
This is a requirement that will insure the attainment 
of the standards of culture that prevail among the 
well-educated and also make certain an intellectual 



THE TEACHER 311 

maturity considerably in advance of that of the pupils 
in the highest grade of the school in which he is to teach. 
This means that no graduate of the elementary school is 
fit to go back at once to teach in that school, and no 
graduate of the high school is equipped to go straight 
back into that school to teach. In neither case is there 
an adequate superiority of the teacher over the pupils 
in the matter of intellectual maturity. Intellectual 
maturity is not to be identified with chronological age. 
Time is undoubtedly a factor in it, but what we are 
insisting on is that kind of maturity that comes from 
further study and deeper insight into the subject 
matter to be taught and its place in the whole body of 
knowledge. Present standards in this matter now tend 
in the following direction : for teaching in the elemen- 
tary school, six years of study beyond the eighth grade — 
four years in high school and two in normal school; 
for teaching in the high school, four years of training 
beyond that institution — a college course or its 
equivalent, together with pedagogical training during 
the course or in an additional year of work ; for teaching 
in the college, three years of special training beyond 
the bachelor's degree — the equivalent of a course for 
the doctor's degree. While these standards are not 
firmly fixed as yet, the drift is decidedly in the direction 
indicated. City elementary and high schools very 
rarely depart from these standards in filling new posi- 



312 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

tions. There is a growing tendency to insist also on 
some special training, particularly in professional 
lines, that guarantees to supervisors and superintend- 
ents a broader outlook than that of the teachers under 
their direction. 

There is a tendency in some quarters to decry the 
factor of scholarship in the equipment of the teacher, 
and to put the emphasis on personality and method. 
There can be no doubt of the importance of these 
factors in the career of the teacher. But there is no 
justification for the supposition that they stand in 
opposition to scholarship. If personality and method 
are to get anywhere, they must have something to 
work with. Other things being equal the teacher who 
knows most about his subject, related subjects, and the 
world at large is in the best strategic position to use 
knowledge freely, flexibly, and skillfully in specific 
teaching situations. The fact that some great scholars 
cannot teach does not alter the truth that scholarship 
is the sine qua non of the teaching profession, it is the 
one thing that is absolutely indispensable back of 
and behind all methods and all personality in teaching. 

Scientific background. 

The physician who practices his profession has to 
be grounded in the fundamental sciences of anatomy, 
physiology, neurology, chemistry, etc. The architect 



THE TEACHER 313 

has to know mathematics, physics, chemistry, esthetics, 
etc. In general the principles upon which any pro- 
fessional activity rest are inherent in some body of pure 
sciences which the professional man must know in order 
to understand his art and to be adaptable in its practice. 
So it is with the teaching profession. Biology gives 
knowledge of the laws of physical growth and develop- 
ment and explains many of the inherited tendencies 
that crop out at different stages of development of the 
child. Psychology throws light on the nature of the 
mental processes and the conditions under which they 
are called forth to best advantage. Its study is 
essential to an understanding of the learning processes 
of children and the formulation of methods of instruction 
adapted to facilitate learning. Sociology or the social 
sciences give the teacher an insight into the world 
in which the child is living and for which he is being 
still further prepared. Only through such knowledge 
is it possible to select and adapt subject matter to meet 
the needs of the pupil and to serve the best interests 
of society. These three lines of scientific study seem to 
represent the minimum of scientific training for the 
teacher. 

Where one pursues a longer course of training than 
that provided by the normal school, it might be 
advisable to add to this list the study of ethics, logic, 
and philosophy. Ethics gives a larger basis for the 



314 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

understanding of the moral nature of children and would 
be suggestive in determining modes of instruction and 
discipline adapted to the culture of the moral life. 
Logic gives a better insight into the principles under- 
lying the organization of subject matter in textbooks 
and also those which are essential in the testing of con- 
clusions and judging of truth. Philosophy will be 
objected to by some on the ground that ''philosophy 
bakes no bread," in other words has no practical value. 
One may very well concede that ''philosophy bakes no 
bread" and reply that it is concerned with bigger 
things. It makes more profound changes in the world 
than that. The Puritans had a religious philosophy 
with which we probably do not now agree, but it pro- 
foundly influenced the conduct of thousands of men on 
both sides of the Atlantic and changed the aims and 
purposes of life on two continents. The democratic 
ideals of the American nation owe much to the political 
philosophy of the 18th century in France. Now, one's 
attitude toward life may be a very decisive factor in 
his teaching at very critical points. It makes a pro- 
found difference to the work of the instructor whether 
his working philosophy of life is crassly materialistic or 
whether it is idealistic enough to make him believe in 
the imperishability of moral and spiritual values. It 
makes a difference to his own interest and enthusiasm, 
and in what he selects for emphasis in his instruction. 



THE TEACHER 315 



Professional theory. 



The architect does not solve all his problems as 
original exercises on the basis of his knowledge of 
physics, mathematics, and other sciences. In his 
work there arise many problems of the same general 
character, the solutions of which have been made once 
for all. These solutions and their results are organized 
into a body of applied science, or professional theory. 
When the architect has to determine the amount of 
radiation necessary to heat a room, he takes a formula 
from this body of professional theory and substitutes 
in it the dimensions of the room, thus solving his 
problem by the use of an equation applicable to many 
cases. So he would proceed also in determining 
the strength of materials to be used. There is some- 
thing analogous to this in the procedure of every pro- 
fession. The physician draws upon the formulated 
results of a great deal of scientific investigation in 
biology, chemistry, and anatomy. The applications 
have been worked out in general form for many 
diseases. He adapts these to particular cases. As an 
aid to the profession of teaching, many applications of 
the underlying sciences have been thoroughly worked 
out in the form of educational psychology, educa- 
tional biology, educational sociology, educational logic, 
etc. The principles of the various sciences in their 



316 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

bearing on education and many of the specific applica- 
tions should be familiar to the teacher. His professional 
training is incomplete without them. They represent 
to him science in its most usable form for his purposes. 
Some study of current methods prepares the teacher to 
put into practice at once the best usages of the day 
in matters of classroom instruction. Some of these 
usages are alike for all subjects; the principles of 
motivation, interest, apperception, etc., being involved 
in the teaching of arithmetic and of music, of Latin and 
of science. But there are specific differences in modes 
of procedure adapted to different subjects; hence the 
teacher must study the special methods appropriate 
to the subject he is preparing to teach. The technique 
of instruction would be radically different at certain 
points for arithmetic and music ; for Latin and chem- 
istry. It is worth while, before beginning to teach, to 
know what this special technique of method is; it 
will save much unnecessary floundering around, even 
where general principles of method are known and also 
the science upon which they rest. The history of 
education has a professional value for the teacher. It 
gives an account of many educational practices in the 
light of their origin and shows how educational principles 
have been tried out in a wide variety of situations. Its 
study should contribute to the balance of judgment of 
the teacher through his added power to survey the 



THE TEACHER 317 

whole field of education in its relation to the forces 
which have shaped current methods and practices. 
Included in professional theory would be a certain 
amount of study of problems of supervision, adminis- 
tration, class management, school architecture, school 
hygiene, and comparison of curricula. This group of 
studies would be most necessary for those who are 
preparing for supervisory and administrative positions. 
At the same time, a brief survey of these topics with 
special attention to class management would be valuable 
for the teacher. The professional training of the high 
school teacher would not diflFer in principle from that of 
the elementary school teacher. The amount and range 
of work would vary, and the content and special em- 
phasis of topics within the courses would differ con- 
siderably. 

Organized and directed observation and practice. 

The physician in training is expected to attend clinics 
for a year or more in which he has a chance to learn from 
the direct observation of experts at work, and from 
discussion with them, the methods and processes of 
diagnosis and prescription for the various classes of 
diseases that have to be treated in ordinary practice. 
It is becoming more and more common to expect him to 
go through a probationary period of practice in a 
hospital under the immediate supervision of skilled 



S18 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

practitioners. This point of view for the training of 
teachers in the elementary schools has been accepted 
for a long time by the normal schools. They take it 
for granted that an essential part of the training of 
teachers is to be found in practice under the direction 
of experts. The only criticism that can be passed on 
the normal schools at this point is that in many of them 
the practice teaching is not as well organized and 
directed as it ought to be. Practice teaching in and of 
itself is no guarantee of success. One may learn from 
it much that is bad as well as much that is good. To 
be an effective instrument of professional training it 
needs to be thoroughly supervised so that we can make 
sure that the right sort of habits are being formed. 
In many of the normal schools there is not a close 
enough correlation of the departments of psychology, 
education, and special methods with the training 
school. The pedagogy learned in one place is different 
from that which is applied in the other. This is very 
confusing and baffling to the student teacher. The 
departments of theory and of practice should cooperate, 
if they wish to make their work effective. 

The principle of practice teaching in the colleges and 
universities, which are now claiming, as opposed to the 
normal schools, the exclusive right to train the high 
school teachers, is not yet fully recognized; but the 
movement for organized and directed observation. 



THE TEACHER 319 

including some practice teaching, is now well under 
way. An increasing number of higher institutions are 
taking up for serious consideration the problem of 
adequate practice for prospective high school teachers. 
The movement is comparatively new and the organiza- 
tion for effective practice is to be found in all stages of 
development from the most crude to the most efficient. 
A healthy interest in the possibilities has been devel- 
oped, as is evidenced by the recent report of the Society 
of College Teachers of Education.^ This report shows 
that there is a sad lack of facilities for adequate prac- 
tice teaching in the college system of the country. It 
shows, however, that there is an increasing disposition 
on the part of the stronger universities and the better 
class of colleges to develop thoroughgoing systems of 
directed observation and practice teaching. 

The Personality of the Teacher 

If teaching is a profession dealing with very complex 
situations and calling for a high degree of scientific and 
special training, we must ask the further question. 
What sort of people should be selected for training as 
teachers .f^ This brings us immediately to that qual- 
ification popularly called personality. What is per- 

1 " Practice Teaching for Prospective Secondary Teachers." This is an Educa- 
tional Monograph, No. 7, in the series published byl the Society of College 
Teachers of Education, 1916, The Torch Press, Cedar Rapids, la. 



320 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

sonality ? What personalities are adapted to teaching ? 
Can personahty be cultivated? It is commonly rec- 
ognized that the good teacher has not only knowledge 
and professional skill but also the power to bring his 
influence to bear on others, the power to call forth re- 
sponses from them that will result in their learning what 
he has to teach. There can be no question of the im- 
portance of personality. But what do we mean by it ? 
In popular use it seems to be a vague and loose term to 
cover anything in the success or failure of the teacher 
that we cannot readily explain. Anything for which 
we cannot find assignable reasons we are apt to dump off 
on to personality. That is one of the dangers in the 
use of the term at all with reference to the qualification 
of teachers. The more or less mystical notion of per- 
sonality interferes with the tendency to analyze care- 
fully and discover precisely the factors in the native 
endowment and training of individuals on which success 
in teaching depends. The difficulty with the concept 
of personality is still further accentuated by the fact 
that we actually find successful teachers with widely 
divergent personal characteristics in practically every 
stage of the profession from kindergarten to college. 
There are those who are slow of thought, and those who 
are quick, those who are aggressive and executive and 
those who are personally shy and retiring, those who are 
imposing in personal appearance and those whose bodily 



THE TEACHER 321 

presence is so insignificant that one wonders how they 
ever succeed in getting the attention and control of a 
class. Because of this extremely wide range of in- 
dividual differences among good teachers, it is very 
diflficult to tell in advance of actual trial whether any 
given person will succeed in teaching or not; and we 
know that those who succeed in one type of teaching or 
in one class of situations often fail in others. Yet 
there are doubtless limits within which the qualities 
that make for success fall. Hence it is worth while to 
make an attempt at getting a more definite idea of 
personality and to analyze out the qualities and char- 
acteristics which are essential in a reasonably strong and 
effective personality. 

When we think of personality it is always in con- 
nection with some influence which one person exerts 
upon others. The roots of this influence are to be 
found in the inherited qualities. These may, or 
may not, have been much modified by experience. 
The test of personality is the effect that the inherent 
qualities of the individual have on others. In so far 
as they have a high suggestive power in modifying the 
attitude and the behavior of others the personality is 
strong. We might take for a preliminary conception of 
personality the inherent qualities of the individual func- 
tioning in social and ethical situations. The inherent 
quahties of the teacher that determine personality 



322 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

fall roughly into three groups : the biological, mental, 
and social qualities. 

The biological qualities. 

The biological qualities that lie back of the personal- 
ity of the teacher are of two classes — the physical and 
the temperamental. 

The "physical, — The physical qualities include such 
things as height and size, native vigor or vitality, and 
the qualities of the voice. Throughout the larger part 
of the history of the race, size and strength have been 
big things in the determination of a man's success in 
life. The kind of situations which confronted men, both 
as individuals and as groups, were such as to put a 
premium upon physical force. Hence it has become an 
ingrained natural tendency to look up to, admire, and 
heed the big man. For this reason whatever he may 
have of social and ethical influence is made more easily 
effective than in the case of others. He has a decided 
advantage over them in the larger power of suggestion 
or social contagion of his acts and his ideas. Further- 
more height and size attract attention ; they single the 
man out from the mass so that whatever he may have 
of influence resting upon other qualities gets a chance 
to work. It might be added on the other side that the 
big man pays something of a penalty for his size in the 
larger popular expectation. If he does not meet this 



THE TEACHER 323 

expectation, his failure is all the more impressive. 
For instance, there is nothing more pathetic than the 
failure of a big man in a public address. Native energy, 
or physical vitality, is a factor in personality regardless 
of physical bulk. It backs up whatever other qualities 
a man may have that carry weight by intensifying them 
and making them persist until they are felt. In the 
voice, many people have a very strong and subtle power 
to influence others. Even wild animals heed and re- 
spect the firm, deep, tense voice. Children are drawn, 
without knowing why, by the soft, mellow, sympathetic 
voice. Most people are irritated by the high, rasping, 
nervous voice, and it takes very positive drawing quali- 
ties to overcome the handicap which it imposes on its 
possessor. Little attention is given to the directions 
of the teacher who uses a timid and questioning tone 
of voice. 

The temperamental, — We do not know very much 
that is scientific about inherited temperaments. No 
exact statement can be made about them, though it is 
customary to point out four classes of temperament. 
The sanguine temperament is easily stimulated, quick 
to react, and optimistic in disposition. Those who are 
of the phlegmatic type are less easily stimulated, are 
slow and steady in response, and careful, cautious, and 
reflective in disposition. The person of choleric 
temperament is easily stimulated, more violent and 



324 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

intense in reaction than the sanguine, and more 
emotional and unstable in disposition than the 
phlegmatic. The melancholic type is like the phleg- 
matic in being slow in response to stimulus, but it is 
weaker in reaction; and in its disposition is more 
emotional and less persistent. It is readily seen by 
the most casual observation of one's acquaintances 
that these four types of temperament are not fixed; 
the vast majority of people approximate one of these 
types in some degree while manifesting certain other 
traits also. Other types might easily be added to the 
traditional four. In modern American life, it seems that 
we have a real need of recognizing at least one more, 
namely, the nervous type. There are people who by 
virtue of their inherited constitution are high strung, 
easily stimulated, quick to react, and excitable in dis- 
position. Men and women of all these differing tem- 
peraments succeed in teaching. It is in the extremes 
of temperament that the difficulties arise. The teacher 
may be too sanguine and optimistic to exercise the 
necessary critical and practical faculties. He may be 
too choleric to exercise the self-control necessary to the 
teaching profession. He may be too phlegmatic to be 
adaptable to the rapidly changing schoolroom situation. 
If he is of an extreme melancholic type, he is likely to 
let things drift too much and not use his energy to 
advantage in directing the activities of the class. The 



THE TEACHER 325 

extreme nervous type reflects its own excitability to the 

whole class. Besides consuming his own energy in 

dangerous waste, he is apt to confuse the normal 

educative activities of the children under his control, 

if not to produce a condition of positive disorder. In 

matter of temperament, the good teacher may be 

expected to possess those qualities which contribute 

to alertness of attention, ready self-control, evenness 

and steadiness of disposition, optimism within practical 

limits, and enthusiasm (not merely effervescence^) in the 

pursuit of his calling. 

1 
The mental qualities. 

The special mental qualities which enter into the 
personality of the teacher are classified, according to 
current psychology, under the heads of intellectual, 
emotional, and volitional tendencies. In spite of the 
tremendous enrichment of the modern school curric- 
ulum with the subject matter that calls for the free 
and spontaneous and constructive activities of children, 
it still remains true that teaching is a learned profession. 
As such it requires a reasonably high order of scholar- 
ship. Hence a natural endowment that includes 
intellectual abilities and tendencies to intellectual 

* It is very important to note this difference between enthusiasm and efferves- 
cence. Some of the most genuinely enthusiastic teachers make very little emotional 
display of their interest. It is a quiet, pervasive, penetrating, and steady quality 
making itself felt as a sort of moral earnestness and good feeling. 



326 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

interests is essential to the personality of the teacher. 
Teaching requires also the willingness to assume re- 
sponsibility for the direction of a complex set of 
activities and the management and control of a large 
group of pupils. In this respect it calls for more execu- 
tive ability than clerking or stenography. Hence the 
personality of the teacher must include more than the 
average endowment in the way of volitional qualities. 
As idealism and the power to enter readily into sympa- 
thetic relations with others are both called for in the 
profession of teaching, there must be an original 
endowment of the emotional nature of a higher order 
than is necessary in the work of the ordinary trades. 

The social qualities. 

Teaching is essentially a social process. The teacher 
is placed in a situation of double social reference — one 
set of relationships involving the direction of the activi- 
ties of pupils, the other necessitating the ability to work 
readily with other representatives of society in the 
school system. It is evident, then, that the personality 
of the teacher must include a special group of qualities 
that are essential to effective social influence and co- 
operation. President McKenny,^ of the State Teachers 
College, Ypsilanti, Michigan, has admirably analyzed 
out the fundamental qualities in the personality of the 

1 " The Personality of the Teacher," Row, Peterson, & Co., 1910. 



THE TEACHER 327 

teacher as follows : sympathy, sincerity, justice, 
dynamic knowledge, good breeding, idealism. All of 
these qualities, unless it is dynamic knowledge, may be 
classified as social; and all of them are improvable 
with cultivation. But, whether natural or in part 
acquired, the significant thing about them is that they 
are elements in that subtle complex which we call 
personality, influencing others by suggestion rather 
than by precept. Hence, it may be worth while to 
dwell for a moment on these qualities in their bearing 
en the vocation of the teacher. Through sympathy 
the teacher enters into a feeling relationship with his 
pupils that binds him and them into one intimate social 
whole of mutual good understanding and right attitude. 
Sympathy creates a social situation favorable to the 
social contagion of all that is best in the mind and life 
of the teacher. Where sincerity is apparent pupils 
have no reason to suspect or to doubt the teacher. 
Sincerity implies moral integrity and singleness of 
motive. Between the pupils and their teacher no 
dark veil hangs to obscure the passage of light in either 
direction. There is nothing that needs to be concealed. 
The teacher whose personality reflects sincerity of life 
and of thought and of scholarship does not need to put 
up a "big front" to impress his pupils. He can let 
his own knowledge and the truth upon which it rests 
have free course. Justice implies fair dealing, the 



328 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

willingness and the purpose to take account of all the 
facts before passing judgment on any pupil, whether 
it be a matter of blame or of praise. Pupils are very- 
quick to respond to the ideal of justice. Patterson 
Du Bois^ considers the sense of justice one of the 
earliest and strongest in the development of the child. 
Whether he is right or wrong, it is certain that the 
possession of this sense on the part of the teacher meets 
with a ready response which indicates its importance 
as an element of personality. By dynamic knowledge 
is meant knowledge in a form that can be used readily 
to meet the needs of specific situations. It is knowl- 
edge so thoroughly under the control of the teacher 
that he can do what he pleases with it in the various 
emergencies that arise calling for its use. It is not 
merely a mass of facts stored away, but these facts are 
organized and related to life. They are so thoroughly 
assimilated and made one's own that they have become 
a part of the teacher's fluid capital. Good breeding 
prompts the teacher to respect the sensibilities and the 
rights of pupils just the same as he would those of 
adults in all matters of social relationships. His 
special official relationship to the class does not imply 
any absolution from the requirements of polite society. 
What is true of his relationship to the class in this 
respect applies also to his relationship to the patrons 

1 " The Culture of Justice." 



THE TEACHER 329 

of the school. Even if they sometimes present them- 
selves under conditions of anger, of ignorance, or of 
ill will, nevertheless they are more likely to be favorably 
influenced by the teacher in whose personality good 
breeding is not only a principle but also an ingrained 
reality of the heart. Whatever may be true of the 
necessity of hard-headed practicality in the pursuit of 
certain lines of business, the work of the teacher is one 
that calls for a large development of idealism. The 
teacher is dealing with growing, developing, plastic 
individuals. From the point of view of his profession, 
as he looks over the children of his schoolroom, he 
must believe that to education "all things are possible." 
This does not mean that he will ignore individual 
differences, but that he will never give up hope of some 
worth-while achievement on the part of every pupil. 
There is no child short of the feeble-minded whose life 
may not be transformed by his earnest and persistent 
effort or that of the combined teaching force. The 
pervasive influence of the teacher's idealism should 
reach to every nook and corner of the schoolroom. 
Soon enough children will learn of the evil of the 
world. Let the school protect them from it for a 
season until they gather strength. The school should 
reflect the social environment, but not entirely. It 
always will and must have something of artificiality 
about it, the artificiality of selection of the finest 



330 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

and best that can be brought to bear upon the lives 
of children. Teaching is an idealistic profession, and 
we should expect and demand an element of idealism 
in the personality of the teacher. 

The problem of growth and development of personality. 

The ^problem in the light of heredity. — We have seen 
that personality is a very complex thing. It is not 
something that depends on a single trait. The number 
of elements that enter into its composition is very great. 
The number of possible combinations of these elements 
makes infinite variety of personality possible, with the 
strangest mixtures of good and bad in all of us. Is it 
possible to do anything in the way of strengthening 
the good points and eliminating, or modifying, the 
bad? If so, then there is such a thing as intentional 
improvement of personality. Heredity gives certain 
elements. Are these fixed and final in their nature and 
degree? Is their organization into a personality pre- 
determined? While we know comparatively little as 
yet about heredity, there are a few things relevant to 
our queries that stand out rather clearly. One of these 
is to the effect that our heredity is very complex. 
On the average, we inherit one-half of our natural 
characteristics equally from our two parents, one-fourth 
from our four grandparents, and the remaining 
one-fourth from a long line of more remote ances- 



THE TEACHER 331 

tors.^ Now, if we take just the first six of our ancestors 
into account, we can see what radical differences are 
represented in our possible heredity in respect to 
physical qualities, temperament, mental capacities 
and tendencies, and social and ethical dispositions. 
Another thing that we know about heredity as the 
result of recent studies in eugenics is that we 
do not inherit the varying qualities of our ancestors 
on the principle of an even mixture or blend, but 
rather it is what the biologists call unit characters 
that are passed on from one generation to another. 
This principle of heredity is most definitely estab- 
lished in the case of certain physical characteristics, 
such as the tendency to have six toes, the tendency to 
certain colors of the hair and eyes,^ to certain promi- 
nences of features, etc. There is some reason to think 
that the principle of inheritance of unit characters is 
applicable also to well-defined mental traits, such as 
aptitude for mathematics, music, etc. Now, on the 
basis of inheritance of unit characters, it is easy to see 
that from the most immediate six of our ancestors we 

^ This does not mean that for the inheritance of any particular person it would 
be true to say that it is expressed by the formula one-fourth from father plus one- 
fourth from mother plus one-sixteenth from each of four grandparents, and so on. 
But in the average of thousands of persons the law of heredity would follow this 
principle of distribution. 

2 The laws of variation of color are too complicated to state here. The student 
who wishes to go further into detail should read up on the applications of Mendel's 
law. 



332 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

might inherit an array of unit characters involving 
many conflicting and more or less unrelated elements. 
From one ancestor might come a tendency to a fiery 
temper, from another a certain mildness of disposition, 
from another aggressive and dominating qualities, 
and from still another an element of shyness. True, 
there would be a tendency for some of these to be more 
dominant than others. Yet those characters that were 
masked by the more dominant ones would still be 
present, and they might determine behavior at times. 
If this conception will hold, then our personality at the 
outset might be a very complex set of characteristics 
related to one another in an unstable equilibrium. 
The child would not be so much a personality as the 
raw material of one, the definite form of which would 
be determined by the final organization of a very com- 
plex set of variables, an organization and balance of 
qualities and tendencies which might take any one of 
several possible forms. From this point of view, 
personality is not so much a given mystical somewhat 
as it is a definite achievement of experience on the basis 
of certain elements given by heredity. Now, what is 
the bearing of all this on the growth and development 
of the personality of the teacher.^ Man, as we know, 
retains plasticity for a long period of time, just how 
long we cannot tell. Certainly there is much plasticity 
in the earlier years of one's active professional career. 



THE TEACHER 333 

This means that the final equihbrium of hereditary 
quaUties that go to make up character and personaHty 
is not yet determined. Hence the possibihty of further 
development of personality. If this is true, no teacher 
ought to despair of modifying his personality to some 
extent, if he can become conscious of the principles of 
its growth and development and is willing to apply 
them. 

Principles of growth of personality, — President 
McKenny has well stated the fundamental principles 
underlying the growth of personality, in the book 
previously cited. His summary of the processes in- 
volved is as follows : (1) the desire for self -improvement, 
(2) self-examination, (3) focusing upon ideals, (4) 
selection of a favorable environment, especially human 
associations, good books, and participation in com- 
munity life. A strong desire for self -improvement is 
an impelling force in life. That must be the explanation 
of such lives as those of Benjamin Franklin and 
Abraham Lincoln, men who had so little of the ordinary 
opportunities of education, yet who reached eminence 
in matters literary and intellectual. Practice teachers 
j in normal schools have been known who were denied 
the privilege of graduation because of serious defects, 
who nevertheless secured humble positions and per- 
sisted in the attempt to improve until they finally 
achieved success and were recalled to the normal 



334 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

school and given their diplomas. It is not likely, 
however, that there will be much desire for self -im- 
provement until there is some quite definite conscious- 
ness of defect. This is where self-criticism plays its 
part. It is a means which any serious -minded person 
can employ to discover his own imperfections and thus 
take the first step necessary to further growth. Im- 
provement must be in some specific direction, it can 
hardly be improvement in general. Criticism dis- 
covers the direction in which improvement is desirable. 
Yet growth does not necessarily follow from criticism. 
The more faults one finds in himself, the more dis- 
couraged he may become. In fact, that is the natural 
eflFect of criticism. Introspection often makes one 
morbid. We know also that when the critical attitude 
is exercised in the course of one's activity it tends to dis- 
traction and interferes with the success of the activity. 
One cannot be vividly conscious of the movements of 
his fingers and run the typewriter successfully. The 
woman who becomes conscious of the movements of her 
fingers in crocheting is likely to be retarded in her activ- 
ity. And certainly the teacher who is thinking of possi- 
ble mistakes that he may make while conducting a reci- 
tation is sure to become self-conscious and fail to do his 
best. That is the chief reason why teachers do so poorly 
when under the observation of a supervisor, particularly 
one who is known to be severe in his criticism. The 



THE TEACHER 335 

teacher who would grow must subject himself to the 
criticism of himself or of another. But growth will not 
come through criticism alone. Real growth comes 
through focusing attention upon the ideal that is pro- 
jected over against the background of the defect that is 
discovered. Let the mind become sensitized to the 
good by dwelling upon the ideal until it burns and 
glows in the soul. Go into the class forgetting the past 
and carrying this new glow of the soul, and behavior 
is likely to follow to some extent in the line of the im- 
provement desired. Not during the conduct of the 
lesson is the time for self-criticism, but afterwards; 
then must come a new focusing upon the ideal, a new 
consecration to the better self, a new sensitizing of the 
soul for a richer and fuller response to the ideal in the 
next lesson. Thus it is that growth takes place little 
by little. The fourth principle, the selection of a 
favorable environment, is significant largely from the 
fact that the right influences of life help us to discover 
and to focus attention upon the right ideals. Of these 
influences the companionship of the right people and 
the right books are partly under our control. Participa- 
tion in the better activities of community life widens 
the opportunity to put our ideals into practice. 

It is my contention that within certain limits set by 
heredity there is no aspect of personality — physical, 
temperamental, mental, or social — that may not be 



336 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

modified to some extent. This modification may take 
place through a change in some particular element or 
through the combining of several elements in some 
new way. This may not appear to be true in the 
case of such physical elements as height and size. But 
even if we cannot *'by taking thought add one cubit 
unto our stature," yet we may make the most of what 
height and size we have by the improvement of our 
bearing and by the display of reasonable taste in dress. 
In the matter of physical energy, the habits of exercise, 
rest, recreation, and diet may make a vast difference 
to the nerve force with which impressions on the con- 
sciousness of others are made. In the use of the voice, 
personality may be very greatly improved by the 
cultivation of the lower, firmer, tenser qualities and 
through the elimination of qualities of querulousness, 
hesitation, uncertainty, and doubt. The temperament 
with which one is born cannot be eliminated, but it 
can be greatly modified. The nervous and impulsive 
can learn larger self-control; the oversanguine can 
determine to be more careful and practical in judgment 
if they will. Every temperament can be refined of 
some of its dross and be balanced up with the cultivation 
of the desirable traits of other temperaments. All 
education is witness to the improvement that can 
be made upon natural mental and social qualities. 
Personality as the combined effect of the inherent 



THE TEACHER 837 

qualities and characteristics of the individual func- 
tioning in social and ethical situations is not a mystical 
somewhat that is given outright at the beginning and 
which we have to take as we find it. It is a complex of 
definable elements, and in its final form is the result of 
growth and development. It represents a harmoniza- 
tion of a lot of characteristics into one working whole. 
It is an achievement partly under our own control. 
It is important for the teacher to remember that 
improvement even in personality is possible if we will 
but go through the processes on which such improve- 
ment depends. 

Vocational Guidance of Teachers 

The principles of vocational guidance are nowhere 
adequately established. They are clearer for some 
occupations than for others. Teaching offers such a 
wide range of possibilities that it is exceedingly difficult 
to lay down any principles of guidance for those who 
are thinking of it as a possible career. On the side of 
personality about all that we can say is what has 
already been said to the effect that there must be those 
natural qualities of body, temperament, and mental 
and social abilities that make the individual effective 
in social and intellectual situations. We cannot tell 
with precision just what combination of qualities will 
insure success. All we can do is to warn those who 



338 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

represent certain extremes that they should not think 
of entering upon this profession. Teaching requires a 
certain alertness, self-control, physical and nervous 
vigor, ready sympathy with child life, intellectual 
interests, and social and executive inclination that 
makes it unwise for any of the extreme types of san- 
guine, phlegmatic, choleric, melancholic, or nervous 
temperaments to undertake this kind of work. 
Physical defects attract attention to themselves and 
make it more difficult for the other qualities to count 
than would be the case in such occupations as book- 
keeping, stenography, or any trade in which the social 
situation is simpler. There is no occupation that puts 
one under more severe nervous strain than teaching a 
group of children all day. This strain is accentuated 
tenfold where there is any weakness of discipline. 
Hence nobody who is high strung or nervous, or whose 
physical vitality is low, should enter upon the pro- 
fession of teaching. Such teachers are bound to break 
down sooner or later. The rewards of teaching are 
too meager, whether measured in terms of money or 
of appreciation, to justify any one in the choice of the 
vocation who does not find in it some special satisfaction 
of intellectual or idealistic interests or some secret 
joy in living in the companionship of children and 
young people. In many respects it is made too easy, 
or else it is a matter of too little thought, for young 



THE TEACHER 339 

people to get into our schools for the training of teachers. 
High school principals could render a distinct service to 
their graduates as well as to society by giving wise 
vocational counsel regarding the profession of teaching 
and the qualities necessary to the achievement of the 
highest success in it. 

Supervision of Teachers 

Normal schools and colleges make only a beginning 
in the training of teachers. This is not their fault 
necessarily ; it is inherent in the conditions under which 
the best of them work. Many principals and superin- 
tendents do not seem to realize the fact that the grad- 
uate of the professional school is not a finished prod- 
uct. The first year of actual teaching is the most 
important year in the training of the teacher. It is in 
this year that the young teacher first faces the larger 
responsibilities of the profession. The principal or 
supervisor has it in his power to make or to break 
the young teacher. He should remember that these 
teachers have been given only enough training to start 
with, they have made only a small beginning in their 
growth and development. Moreover, they are almost 
always young and immature. They have a right to 
sympathetic guidance and direction in the first two or 
three years of their teaching experience. Doubtless 
it is easier on the principal to hire teachers who have 



340 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

been tested in some other school system; for he can 
then sit in his office with a greater confidence that 
everything is going on all right, particularly in matters 
of discipline. But, on the whole, that principal will 
have the best school who takes promising young peo- 
ple directly from the normal school and the college 
and assists in training them himself for his school during 
their plastic years. He is more likely to come into close 
and sympathetic relations with his teaching corps and 
to secure loyal and lasting cooperation from them. 
Besides, he will be compelled to get away from the 
routine and clerical duties of his office more frequently, 
and he is more likely to develop into the professional 
leader of his teaching staflF. This will be a great gain 
for him as well as for his school. 

Supervision should not be the dictation of the work 
of teachers any more than teaching should be the 
dictation of the work of pupils. That supervision is 
best which makes the most complete use of the intelli- 
gence, experience, and professional training of the entire 
body of teachers. The enthusiasm and professional 
spirit of the teachers will be at its highest level where 
there is intelligent cooperation for common ends 
known and appreciated by all. It is a terrible and 
appalling waste of the best resources of the school 
system not to utilize the insight, practical knowledge, 
and intelligence of those who are closest to the actual 



THE TEACHER 341 

problems of teaching. Again, it is just as great a loss 
of economy to hire a superintendent or principal who is 
incapable of focusing the intelligence of the teaching 
body upon their problems more efifectively through his 
superior knowledge of the larger problems of the 
school and his wider outlook upon the educational field. 

Professional Growth of the Teacher 

We are living in a period of rapid change in educa- 
tional ideals, methods, and practices. Changes in 
curriculum and in the organization of the school 
activities are occurring continually. Children are 
handled in more specialized groups calling for different 
materials and modes of instruction. No teacher can 
be trained for the needs of the vocation once for all ; 
he has to continue his training, to make conscious 
effort to grow and to keep up with the times. Profes- 
sional reading and study is an absolute essential to 
continued success in our profession as it is in medicine. 
School authorities should realize this fact and make 
adequate provision for the further training of their 
teachers. This provision should not be one which 
merely requires further study, but rather one which 
organizes the work of the school system in such a way 
as to provide time and facilities for it. The tendency 
on the part of teachers to attend summer schools in 
ever larger numbers is indicative of their own desire for 



342 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

self -improvement and of their intelligent conception of 
the growing responsibilities of their calling. But it 
ought not to be necessary for them to sacrifice their 
vacations repeatedly to find the facilities of growth. 
There ought to be freer and more flexible facilities for 
them to do this work at intervals of specially arranged 
leaves of absence during the school year, or through 
classes provided for them inside the school system. 
Sometimes it is better for the school to have the 
teacher come back in the fall with vital energy renewed 
than with a string of professional courses to his credit. 
But, from time to time, the teacher needs these pro- 
fessional courses for the renewal of enthusiasm and the 
energizing of work that has tended to become of the 
mechanical and routine type. In this connection, I 
have often thought that there is too general a tendency 
on the part of teachers coming to summer schools to 
raise the question as to what is most immediately 
practical for the next year's work. There are times 
when it is life itself that needs to be refreshed. The 
teacher may keep his nose too close to the educational 
grindstone. Occasionally it would be well for him to 
think of himself not as a teacher but as a human being 
who has intellectual and emotional interests to satisfy 
at the centers of learning. Why not take some courses 
just because you want them, without asking the 
question what you will do with them ? If you want to 



THE TEACHER 343 

know more about the stars just to satisfy your curiosity, 
take a course in astronomy and enjoy it ; if you want to 
know more about poetry because you enjoy it, take a 
course in the poets even if you are teaching mathe- 
matics. You are a human being first. Everything 
that will satisfy your legitimate human needs will make 
you a better teacher. You teach with the whole self 
as well as with subject matter. Enrichment of the 
self vitalizes all that you do. The widening of the out- 
look may give a truer perspective of your own work and 
you may see its significance more clearly. Intelligence 
has numerous ways of making itself felt besides those 
which are inherent in the elements of the particular 
body of subject matter which you teach and the 
particular methods which are adapted to that body of 
subject matter. 

The Scientific Aspect of Education 

Water has been running down the hills through all 
the ages, exerting its transforming power ; heat, light, 
and electricity have performed their wonders from the 
beginning of time. The modern era does not differ from 
the ancient by virtue of the larger number of forces of 
nature that exist but by virtue of the fact that it has 
brought the forces of nature under control. Science 
has discovered the laws of their operation and has 
applied these laws to the more eflScient utilization of 



344 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

natural forces in the interest of man. Progress has 
come not from violation of any natural laws but from 
their guidance and direction into more fruitful channels. 
Educational progress, in like manner, works with^ 
nature, not against it. We want human nature to pro- 
duce its finest and best results, and we do not want to 
leave it to chance that these results shall be produced. 
In order to work with nature to best advantage we must 
have exact knowledge of child needs, of the processes by 
which they are normally met, and of the measure of 
our success in meeting them. It is from this point of 
view that large meaning, significance, and promise 
attaches to the development of experimental pedagogy 
and to the perfection of educational tests, scales, and 
standards. This scientific movement aims to make sure 
of all facts concerned with our problem by utilizing 
the methods of experiment and of statistics common 
to other scientific procedures. Diagnosis of the teach- 
ing situation is made more searching, exact, and 
scientific. • Methods of instruction are tested by ex- 
perimentation under controlled conditions. By the 
Binet tests and others, we find out more precisely 
the natural endowment of intelligence with which we 
have to deal. Pedagogical tests, such as the Courtis 
tests in arithmetic, determine what is the present 
stage of achievement. Scientific scales, such as the 
Thorndike handwriting scale and the Thorndike- 



THE TEACHER 345 

Hillegas composition scales, measure the amount of 
improvement made in a given function and make it 
possible to compare this improvement with that of 
others. The diagnostic value of all these things is 
incomparable, and with the perfection of the tests and 
their more thorough standardization it is bound to 
become still more significant. Objective means of 
diagnosis and of measuring results take the place of 
subjective and personal means. The processes by 
which we discover what are the needs of life at any 
given point, how they can best be met, and whether 
we are successful in meeting them are less random 
and uncertain and are becoming more certain and 
scientific. The whole field of experimental pedagogy 
and of scientific measurement is a highly specialized 
one, going beyond the purpose and function of this 
book; but the whole doctrine of function, or the con- 
ception of education as meeting the needs of life, calls 
for the development and application of the scientific 
element in education.^ 

1 Most of the scientific tests, scales, and standards can be obtained from the 
Bureau of Publications of Teachers College, Columbia University. Probably the 
best presentation of the Binet tests is that given by Terman in his book entitled 
"The Measurement of Intelligence." In Starch's "Educational Measurements" 
will be found an account of most of the current pedagogical tests and scales. 
Harvard Bulletins in Education, Vol. 5, June, 1917, gives a very complete "De- 
scriptive Bibliography of Measurement in Elementary Subjects." 



346 EDUCATION FOR THE NEEDS OF LIFE 

Summary 

The child can learn without a teacher; primitive children did 
so, and all children do so still in certain matters. The teacher 
becomes necessary in a complex society. His function is to facili- 
tate the natural learning activities of children, to give them the 
guidance and direction that will make them wider, more certain, 
and more efficient. To do this is not so easy as to hear lessons. 
Special qualifications and training are necessary, just as in the 
case of the professions of architecture and medicine. The teacher 
must be trained in the specific subjects to be taught, related sub- 
ject matter, and the principles and methods that are necessary 
to give scientific character to the art of teaching. To scholarship 
and professional theory must be added observation and practice. 
The personality of the teacher is an important factor in success. 
But many different types of personality may succeed. Personality 
is not a mystical, intangible gift of nature. It is a complex of 
perfectly definite qualities which influence others by suggestion. 
Though these qualities have a hereditary basis, it is possible to 
modify and improve them. Improvement comes through strong 
desire to improve, self-examination and criticism, focusing atten- 
tion on ideals, and choice of favorable environmental influences. 
Prospective teachers ought to receive vocational counsel to deter- 
mine whether they have the qualities of personality and the inter- 
est in scholarship necessary to succeed in meeting the professional 
demands of to-day. And teachers in service must plan to main- 
tain the ideals and practices essential to continued professional 
growth. Scientific tests and scales are being developed as aids 
in the diagnosis of teaching situations and for the purpose of 
measuring efficiency of instruction. 



THE TEACHER 347 

Supplementary Readings 

B AGLET, William C, Classroom Management, Chs. 16, 17, 18. 

Bagley, William C, Craftsmanship in Teaching^ Chs. 1-5, and 

> Ch. 12. 

Brown, J. F., Training of Teachers for Secondary Schools in Ger- 
many. 

CoFFMAN, Lotus D., Social Composition of the Teaching Popula- 
tion. 

CoLEGROVE, C. p., The Teacher and the School, Chs. 1-5. 

Dewey, John, Democracy and Education, Ch. 1, also pp. 83, 
188. . 

Harvey, Nathan, Principles of Teaching, Ch. 1. 

Hyde, William Dev/itt, The Teacher's Philosophy, 

McKenny, Charles, The Personality of the Teacher. 

Palmer, George H., The Ideal Teacher. 

Palmer, George H., Trades and Professions. 

Perry, A. C, Jr., Status of the Teacher. 

RuEDiGER, W. C, Principles of Education, Ch. 1. 

Terman, Lewis M., The Teacher's Health. 



INDEX 



Abstract, meaning of, 263-265; why 
necessary, 272-274; as related to 
method, 263-277; motivation for, 
252-253 ; see Concrete. 

Action system, 13-14. 

Adaptive behavior, 5-6, 24-30. 

Addams, Jane, 84. 

Adjustment, education as, 8-14 ; mean- 
ing of, 8-9, 12; not mechanical, 8-9; 
factors in, 10-14; danger of lower 
level, 55-56 ; higher levels, 53-59, 65, 
91; social, 136-138; to industry, 181. 

Administration, see Supervision. 

Adolescence, 130-144, 195 ; development 
of, 131-133; problems of, 133-144; 
educational significance of, 144-146; 
culture of, 147-151 ; a new infancy, 
144, 147; significance for higher life, 
151; period for enriching experience, 
147-148. 

Agriculture, liberalizing value of, 190- 
191. 

Aim of education, ch. 2 ; need of objec- 
tive standard, 48-52 ; formulation of, 
53-59; social point of view, 59-61, 
61-72 ; correlativity of individual and 
social aims, 72-74 ; realization of, 74- 
79; summary, 59, 62, 74, 79-80. 

Appreciation, 28, 189, 190; of values, 
53-56; of social values, 63-64; 
method of training, 290-298; see 
Feeling. 

Arrested development, 93-94, 146. 

Art, see Appreciation. 



Behavior, 4-6, 9, 14; defined, 4, 5; of 
social group, 7; mechanism of, 13-14. 



Binet tests, 344. 

Biological point of view, ch. 1 ; in rela- 
tion to needs of life, 1-3; applied to 
mind, 6; contribution to education, 
15-45 ; summary, 46-47. 

"Blind alley," education, 196; jobs, 93, 
181, 195. 

Body and mind, 16-22, 225. 

Child, ch. 3 ; place in educative process, 
81-94 ; stages of development, 94-151 ; 
summary, 151-153. 

Civilization, and instruction, 87-88; 
education a factor in, 93-94. 

Cliques, 121, 128; see Gang. 

Concrete, as basis of meaning, 265-269 ; 
as basis for realism, 269-272; rela- 
tion between concrete and abstract 
in use of books, 274-277; see Ab- 
stract. 

Consciousness, function of, 18-19. 

Control, 22, 26, 45, 116, 121, 126-128; 
of values, 58-59, 64-72; individual, 
96, 98; growth in, 99-102, 120-121, 
131-132; of experience, 221-226. 

Criticism, function of, 334; negative 
and positive, 238. 

Curiosity, 103, 116, 178; as source of 
motivation, 244. 

Curriculum, ch. 4 ; origin and nature of 
subject matter, 155-162; functional 
interpretation of, 162-168; relation 
of teachers and pupil to, 169-170; 
tests of value, 170-179; liberal and 
vocational elements, 179-192; factor 
in vocational guidance, 192-197; 
summary, 197-198. 



S49 



350 



INDEX 



Democracy, in relation to education, 65- 
66, 68-74, 177, 187, 188. 

Democratization, of social institutions, 
68-70. 

Development, stages of, 94-96; prin- 
ciple of interpretation of, 96-99 ; pre- 
school age, 99-101 ; kindergarten- 
primary age, 101-120; period of 
middle grades, 120-130; high school 
age, 130-151 ; compared with growth, 
219; of experience as a principle of 
method, 219-221. 

Dewey, John, 278. 

Diagnosis, 75 ; as a phase of instruction, 
226-235 ; of teaching, 3^4-355. 

Effort, 27, 54, 58-59, 225, 235, 236, 239, 
246 ; see Motivation, Will, Work. 

Enrichment of experience, 128, 171, 
177-179, 266; in adolescence, 147- 
151; as a principle of method, 212- 
219. 

Environment, meaning of, 10-11 ; social, 
11-12, 77; as progressive, 12, 15. 

Evolution, 29-30. 

Experience, unification of, 112-116; 
enrichment of, 212-219 ; development 
of, 219-221 ; control of, 221-226. 

Experimental pedagogy, 161, 345. 

Faculty, function versus, 34-39. 

Feeling, 16, 17; in life of child, 115; in 
adolescence, 140, 145; training of, 
28-29; in relation to intellect and 
will, 22-29 ; see Appreciation. 

Finished product, 129, 288, 293. 

Fiske, John, 88-90. 

Freedom, doctrine criticized, 205-206 ; 
meaning of, 241-242. 

Froebel, 82, 83, 86, 167, 203. 

Function, doctrine of, 29-44 ; as stand- 
ard, 49-52; versus technique, 118, 
147-151; in relation to curriculum, 
162-168; applied to method, 39-41, 
257-263. 



Gang and clique, 121, 128, 138. 
Growth, distinguished from develop- 
ment, 219 ; of the teacher, 330-S37. 

Habit, 20-22, 160, 225-226, 287. 

Health, in relation to mental efficiency, 
17-18. 

Heredity, as a factor in personality, 330- 
333. 

Hero worship, 129, 138, 150. 

High school age, 130-151 ; early adoleg- 
cence, 131-133; new problems, 133- 
144; educational significance, 144- 
146 ; point of view in instruction, 147- 
151. 

High school curriculum, 173-177. 

Idealism, of the teacher, 329-330. 

Ideals, 18, 55, 57, 63, 138, 145 ; training 
in, 127; rationalization of, 149-151; 
as subject matter, 160-162; function 
of, 237-238, 335. 

Imagination, 103-106, 108-116, 121-123, 
215-216, 245. 

Imitation, 103. 

Individual, as dynamic, IS ; and society, 
7, 15, 57, 62, 65-67, 72-74. 

Individual differences, 147, 166-167. 

Individuality, 107-108, 141. 

Infancy, meaning of, 88-90; prolonga- 
tion of, 89, 92-94, 146; and educa- 
, bility, 90-92; arrested development, 
93; higher development, 94; adoles- 
cence compared to, 144, 147. 

Informal education versus formal, 156- 
158. 

Initiative, 221-223, 224, 226, 253. 

Instinct, 87-88 ; as source of motivation, 
240-242. 

Instruction, principles underlying, 226- 
293. 

Intellect, feeling, and will, 22-29, 42-43, 
64-66. 

Intelligence, evolution of, 89. 

Interest, 239 ; see Motivation. 



INDEX 



351 



Jesus, 72, 82. 

Judgment, of values, as aim of education, 

56-58, 62 ; as phase of diagnosis, 230- 

232. 
Junior high school, 130, 131, 179, 182. 

Kindergarten, 167. 
Kindergarten-primary age, 100-120, 217. 

Learning, 39, 44, 201; through self- 
activity, 203-206, 206-212; informal, 
296-298; formal, 298-299; primi- 
tive, 297-298. 

Lesson plans, 233-234. 

Liberal education, 179-192. 

Logical and psychological, in method, 
277-289. 

Logical thinking, training in, 289. 

Loyalty, 18^ 90, 138; see Gang. 

Meaning, 265-269. 

Meaning of education, ch. 2 ; see Aim of 
education. 

Memorizing, 124, 128. 

Memory, as a function, 35-37. 

Mental development, see Development. 

Mental needs, as basis of motivation, 
243-246. 

Method, ch. 5; meaning of, 199-203; 
educative processes, 203-226; prin- 
ciples of instruction, 226-293; sum- 
mary, 294-295; in relation to needs, 
75-77. 

Middle grades, child of, 120-130; point 
of view of instruction, 128-130. 

Mind, as organic, 6. 

Montessori, 222, 223. 

Motivation, 18, 27, 54-55, 75-76, 156, 
157, 218; law of, 235-247; relation 
to work, 235-237; positive and nega- 
tive aspects, 237-239 ; sources of, 239- 
246 ; not a step in method, 246-247. 

Motor flow of consciousness, 97-99, 100, 
108-112. 

Myths, 112-114. 



Needs, doctrine of, 1-3, 4, 7, 13, 19, 29, 
37, 39-41, 46, 53-54, 56, 59, 75-76, 
78, 83, 87, 147, 157, 228-230, 297, 299; 
conscious versus unconscious, 54; 
social, 60-61 ; doctrine applied to 
subject matter, 156-159, 162-166, 
170-177. 

New education, 86-87; criticized, 87-88. 

Old education, 85 ; criticized, 87-88. 
Organism, 3; characteristics of, 4-6; 
society as organic whole, 7-8. 

Pedagogy, function of, 234-235. 

Personality, 107-108, 127-128, 133, 140, 
141, 143-144; of the teacher, 319-337; 
definition, 321 ; biological qualities, 
322-325; mental qualities, 325-326; 
social qualities, 326-330; growth and 
development of personality, 330-337. 

Pestalozzi, 82, 83, 86. 

Physical education, 16-17, 134-135. 

Plato, 82. 

Play, 17, 75, 84-85, 100, 104-105, 205, 
220, 236. 

Practice teaching, 317-319. 

Prevocational education, 182. 

Problem method, 247-257; see Project 
method. 

Profession, characteristics of, 302-303; 
teaching as, 303-304; training for 
teaching, 305-319. 

Professional growth of teachers, 341-343. 

Project method, 20, 126, 129, 218, 247- 
257 ; meaning and nature of projects, 
247-248; value of, 248-251; in rela- 
tion to problems, 251-253; advan- 
tages, 253-255 ; range and limitations 
of method, 255-257; in rural educa- 
tion, 247-250; use of books in, 257. 

Psychological and logical, relation in 
method, 277-289; meaning of terms, 
277-281 ; value and right use of text- 
books, 281-287; training in logical 
thinking, 287-289. 



352 



INDEX 



Realism in education, 28, 170, 194, 252, 
254-255,269-272; see Concrete. 

Reasoning, 27, 225-226; see Thinking, 
Adolescence, Logical. 

Reconstruction of experience, as a prin- 
ciple of method, 206-212. 

Religion and religious education, 30, 34, 
117, 132-133, 145-146, 149, 210. 

Rousseau, 82, 83, 86. 

Rural education, project method in, 
247-250. 

Scales, tests, etc., 344-345. 
Scholarship, necessary for teaching, 305 ; 

extent needed, 307-312; function of, 

310-312; current standards of, 311- 

312. 
School, function of, 213-214. 
Scientific aspect of education, 343-345. 
Self, consciousness of, 108; improve- 
ment, 333-337. 
Self-activity, 9-10, 13, 248; as basis of 

learning, 203-206; scope of, 204; 

not an end, 204-206 ; factor in enrich- 
ment of experience, 216. 
Self-expression, 118-119, 139; as factor 

in appreciation, 290-293. 
Social consciousness, 60-61, 65-67, 136- 

138. 
Social control, 64-72; meaning of, 64- 

66; processes of, 66-72; democratic, 

66. 
Social coordination, 59-61, 64-66. 
Social development, 106-107, 121, 128, 

129. 136-138, 149-151. 
Socialization of individual, 66-67, 129, 

144, 150-151. 
Social point of view, 59-74. 
Social values, 61-66, 92, 160. 
Society, as organic, 7-8, 73-74, 77. 
Socrates, his standard of function, 49- 

50 ; his method, 237. 
Standard, need of objective, 48-52; 

Socratic, 49-50 ; variability of, 51 ; 

of function, 52. 



State, education in relation to, 65, 72. 

Stories, 112-114, 115, 119, 215. 

Study, 129. 

Subject matter of education, 75-77, 78, 
85-86, 221; primitive, 156-157; de- 
velopment of, 157-158; not merely 
knowledge, 159-162; to meet needs 
of life, 162-165; not static, 166-167; 
nor final, 167; see Curriculum and 
Values. 

Subjective standards, danger of, 48- 
52. 

Suggestion and suggestibility, 119, 143, 
237 ; see Motor flow of consciousness. 

Supervision, 196, 303, 304, 317, 339-341. 

Symbols and symbolism, 122, 129, 263- 
264, 275-277. 

Teacher, ch. 6; function of, 169-170, 
201-202, 223, 296-300; professional 
training of, 301-319; personality of, 
319-337 ; vocational guidance of, 337- 
339; supervision of, 339-341; pro- 
fessional growth of, 341-343; sum- 
mary, 346 ; see Personality. 

Technique, in relation to function, 20- 
22, 123-124, 128, 225, 259-263. 

Temperament, of the teacher, 323-325. 

Textbooks, value of, 281-283; use of, 
274, 283-287. 

Thinking, relation to habit, 22 ; develop- 
ment of, 111-112, 122-126, 129, 142- 
143; teaching of, 202; as source of 
motivation, 245-246. 

Thorndike, 36, 344. 

Trade, characteristics of a, 301. 

Values, changing, 116; curriculum as 
selection of, 169; higher, 63-64, 77, 
94, 144-145, 161; of subject matter 
tested, 170-179. 

Values of life, appreciation of, 53-56; 
judgment of, 56-58; control of, 58- 
59; social, 59-74; range of, 159- 
161. 



ESFDEX 



353 



Vocational education, 179-192. 
Vocational guidance, curriculum a factor 
in, 192-196 ; of teachers, 337-339. 

Whole self in education, 15-29, 342-343. 



Will, development and training of, 17, 
27-28, 107-108, 127, 143 ; in relation 
to intellect and feeling, 22-29. 

Work, 129, 236, 254; see Effort and 
Motivation. 



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